Six of Brisbane’s ferry terminals severely damaged during the devastating February flood will be back in action by Christmas, Brisbane City Council announced today.
Brisbane’s Civic Cabinet Chair for Transport, Ryan Murphy thanked local workers who were ensuring Council’s $16 million ferry terminal restoration program was being delivered as quickly as possible.
Cr Murphy said the six additional terminals will join the 13 terminals re-opened earlier in the year.
“The devastating February floods saw huge amounts of damaging debris in the Brisbane River which impacted every single one of our terminals,” he said.
“This was one of the worst floods Brisbane has ever experienced but we are building back better as part of our rebuild and recovery efforts.
“There has been a huge team of skilled local workers from various trades working to get these terminal repairs done as quickly as possible.
“While some works have been done on site, local firms have also been repairing handrails, balustrades, signage, buoyancy tanks and gangway release mechanisms at their premises before installing them back at the terminal.”
Cr Murphy said local experts had also been engaged to undertake the significant and complex repair job of repairing the North Quay and Regatta gangways.
“Specialist marine contractor, Fitzgeralds, has been repairing these gangways at the Port of Brisbane,” he said.
“This work also includes lowering the water level at which the gangways open during future events by 500 mm, reducing the risk of damage.
“These flood-resilient ferry terminals are world-first, and we’ve learnt valuable lessons from this last flood to improve their design even further.”
Cr Murphy said Brisbane’s ferry network was in much better shape compared to after the 2011 floods.
“In 2011, seven of terminals had to be completely rebuilt, which meant temporary terminals had to be used for up to four years,” he said.
“In 2022, our first services were back up and running after just 90 days, which was an incredible achievement.
“I am confident that the key flood resilience features and design robustness of our terminals has ensured significantly less damage than would have otherwise occurred,” he said.
Ferry terminal restoration schedule:
- Sydney Street – late November
- Holman Street – late November
- QUT Gardens Point – late November
- Milton – December
- Maritime Museum – December
- UQ St Lucia – December
- North Quay – early 2023
- Regatta – early 2023.
