Captain Cook Bridge, Brisbane
Encyclopedia
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was built exclusively for vehicular traffic and was opened in 1972. The bridge crosses at the South Brisbane Reach of the river, linking Gardens Point
Gardens Point, Brisbane
Gardens Point is a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River. The Brisbane CBD extends northwards of the point.Located here are Queensland's Parliament House, the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology, the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens and Queensland's Old...
to Woolloongabba
Woolloongabba, Queensland
Woolloongabba is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located 4 km south of the Brisbane CBD.Experts are divided regarding the Aboriginal meaning of the name, preferring either 'whirling waters' or 'fight talk place'...
.
Captain Cook Bridge actually consists of two separate bridges, one for each direction of traffic. The bridge carries four lanes of traffic in either direction and links the M3 Pacific Motorway
Pacific Motorway
The Pacific Motorway is a 100 km long motorway in Australia between Brisbane, Queensland, and the New South Wales-Queensland border at Tweed Heads. The motorway starts at Coronation Drive at Milton in Brisbane, and from 2008 links the Tweed Heads bypass in New South Wales...
to the M3 Riverside Expressway
Riverside Expressway
The Riverside Expressway is part of the Pacific Motorway that runs through Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the western side of the Brisbane CBD and is made up of various bridges and overpasses...
. It is the main route from the city's south into the Brisbane central business district
Brisbane central business district
The Brisbane central business district , sometimes referred to as the city, is a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and is located on a point on the northern bank of the Brisbane River. The triangular shaped area is bounded by the Brisbane River to the east, south and west...
.
At the time of completion the main span of 183 m held the world record for this type of structure for a period of 3 months, when it was superseded by the Harama Bridge in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(241 m).
The structure is Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
's busiest traffic bridge with more than 1 million vehicles crossing it weekly in 2007.
Downstream from the Captain Cook Bridge is the Story Bridge
Story Bridge, Brisbane
The Story Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River. Part of Bradfield Highway , it connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. Before the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland asked John Bradfield to design a new bridge in Brisbane...
, while the Goodwill Bridge
Goodwill Bridge, Brisbane
The Goodwill Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge which spans the Brisbane River in Brisbane Australia, linking the South Bank Parklands / Queensland Museum on the southside, to the Gardens Point Campus of the Queensland University of Technology on the northside.The Goodwill Bridge was opened...
is the next crossing upstream.
Concerns were raised in 2007 about the structure's integrity after it was revealed that contractors who attached a gantry to the bridge had drilled numerous holes which had damaged steel reinforcement bars. After investigations were completed it was concluded that the damage was insignificant as only 57 vertical steel bars out of 21000 had been cut.
See also
- Bridges over the Brisbane River
- Road transport in Brisbane