Funds for bridge and breakthroughs

Above: An artist's impression from last year of the proposed second bridge to Bribie.

Two major projects, at opposite ends of Bribie Island, have funding in this week’s State Government Budget.

It will cover planning for the new Bribie Island Bridge, estimated last year to have an overall price tag of $700 million.

And “immediate and urgent work” to repair several “breakthroughs” at the northern tip of Bribie, after years of erosion along the narrow strip.

State Member for Pumicestone Ariana Doolan said the bridge funding is “to complete the design, commence early works on the landside and obtain necessary approvals”.

While a timeline for construction is not yet available, the Moreton Daily has been told current focus is on finishing design work, which will help shape the project’s next steps.

The new bridge will provide two additional lanes going onto Bribie with the existing bridge, built in 1963, to be used for traffic leaving the island.

There would also be a “dedicated active transport path for bike riders, pedestrians and mobility devices”.

At the opposite end of the island, $20 million is in the State Budget “for the rapid deployment of immediate and urgent work” on erosion and “breakthrough events”.

Plans are to close gaps created on the island’s narrow northern strip, create inner sandbanks and a temporary channel to ease the impacts of erosion.

About 100,000 cubic metres of sand is needed to fill breakthroughs from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Coastal engineering experts have recommended:

• Closing of breakthroughs 2 and 3
• Buffering the section between breakthroughs 2 and 3
• Building a sandbank inside breakthrough 1 to reduce wave energy entering the passage
• And creating and maintaining a temporary channel from breakthrough 1 to the northern end of Pumicestone Passage

This would reduce ongoing damage within the passage, improve water quality, navigational safety and protection while strategies are developed for long-term solutions in a final report later this year.

“Without intervention, this remaining section of island may be lost entirely, potentially leading to significant further change in coastal processes and heightened infrastructure risk on The Passage foreshore,” Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Jarrod Bleijie said

“The experts have advised this work could take a minimum of five months to complete.”