28/07/2024
William Jolly Bridge, Brisbane.
Here is a shot of the William Jolly Bridge which was lit up for the Royal Visit in 1956.
This Art Deco bridge was claimed to be the first of its type in Australia, with its construction consisting of steel frame archways covered with concrete veneer.
When constructed, this bridge was conceived to be a bypass for traffic between the western suburbs and southern suburbs as congestion on Victoria Bridge was increasing.
Reports commissioned from the City Planner and City Engineer in 1925 suggested that this bridge be a two level bridge, with the upper level being for a railway line to cross the Brisbane River and connect both the South Cost Railway Line to the Main Railway Line.
The report also suggested a second bridge be built, in conjunction with this bridge, from Wellington Road in East Brisbane to Sydney Street in New Farm, with a ring road to be constructed around the CBD called the Main Parkway Boulevard.
Two of the other men who took part in this report suggested that the Grey Street Bridge be built further up stream, which I do wonder if those would have lined up with Hale Street?
In the end one single level bridge was constructed and no ring road was built.
Gilchrist Avenue in Herston is named after one of those engineers, though on the opposite side of the railway tracks. I assume that the Main Parkway Boulevard should have followed Gregory Terrace.
In the end very similar to the Wilbur Smith proposal of 1965 and the Inner City Bypass that was eventually built in 2002.
Even the bridge that was built was scaled back with the original plans calling for the bridge to have a “North Quay Underpass”, which would have pushed costs up to £700,000.
The Commissioner of Main Roads was unhappy with this estimate and requested that costs be contained under ÂŁ500,000 by minimising resumptions, reducing North Quay roadworks and the construction of a different bridge design.
M.R. Hornibrook Ltd. submitted the lowest tender of ÂŁ384,850 though the end cost of the bridge was almost double in the end with ÂŁ688,387 being spent.
This appeared to have been partly funded by a United States Loan.
An artists impression of the complete bridge at the time of construction showed trams crossing the bridge, a monument at the intersection of Skew and Saul Streets and a different number of viaducts to those built on the southern approach.
In fact the decretive towers were meant to support overhead tram cables and the bridge had provisions to carry a major water pipe which never eventuated.
This bridge design was chosen out of the three proposed bridges as its was the cheapest to construct and the main goal was to construct a bridge that was higher than the 1893 flood level, which would give it a higher probability of surviving such an event. There were however some concerns about the location as it is located on the river bend and it was felt it could worsen flooding.
At the time the preferred bridge to be constructed was known as the Central Bridge which would have connected Main Street in Kangaroo Point to Fortitude Valley.
In August 1929 a ÂŁ50,000 contract was let in England which would result in it taking 15 months for the steel needed to complete the bridge to reach Brisbane.
In July 1931 a proposal was made that suggested not concreting the archways on the bridge, which would have resulted in a considerable cost saving.
Leading up the the opening of the bridge there was talk about what it would be called.
For some reason the name Theodore was proposed, which one person proposed the name Mungana as they felt it would live forever compared to the name Theodore.
Another name suggested were the McIlwraith Bridge after Mr. Thomas McIlwraith, who was Queensland’s greatest statesman. It was his idea to raise the Melbourne Street Railway Station for a potential future extension over the Brisbane River.
Another suggested naming the bridge after Sir Samuel Griffith as we had no other monuments to him in our city.
Further suggestions were to name the bridge the Jolly Bridge, or the Hornibrook Bridge as Mr. H.R. Hornibrook had a lot to do with this bridge.
The bridge finally opened on Wednesday March 30th 1932 by State Governor Sir John Goodwin, just 11 days after the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was named the Grey Street Bridge which by 1939 it was carrying 45% of cross river traffic and was effectively doing more than it was designed to achieve.
On Tuesday July 5th 1955 the bridge was renamed in memory of Mr. William Jolly, first Lord Mayor of Greater Brisbane.
In 1964 the original spherical glass light fittings were removed from the bridge and replaced with the current light poles.
The two span overpass on the North Quay side was replaced in 1988, which in doing this the foot paths on both sides were reduced in width.
I assume to save on costs but limits the walkability of the bridge.
Meanwhile in 2003 the bridge featured in the major motion picture Inspector Gadget 2 during a shootout scene.
In February 2007 the Brisbane City Centre Master Plan 2026 was unveiled which reported that the Grey Street boulevard would continue across the Brisbane River with cycle lanes and better pedestrian access to the northern side.
This would include a redesigned E.E. McCormick Place as a plaza to the river, which fortunately the City park was not touched and remains to be an oasis.
**These articles are researched and compiled by myself John Prpic, which is unpaid and done in my spare time around my employment. Any brands or business depicted in my postings are purely coincidental and are done without remuneration. The information supplied in my articles are sourced from a variety of locations, such as newspaper archives, State Heritage Register, Council Heritage Registers, current newspaper articles, QImagery, word of mouth and many more locations.
(Taken: 1956/2019)
(Source: Brown Family Collection/John Prpic)
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