STORY BRIDGE, BRISBANE

The Story Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River that carries vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic between the northern and the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia. The bridge is part of Bradfield Highway and connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. It is named for John Douglas Story  (7 August 1869, Edinburgh, Scotland — 2 February 1966, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia). Story was a prominent Queensland public servant who entered the Queensland Public Service and was Under-Secretary for the Department of Education between 1906 and 1920. He was the Public Service Commissioner from 1920 to 1939. Story worked for the establishment of the University of Queensland and was a government representative on the University senate.

Before the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland asked John Bradfield to design a new bridge in Brisbane. The Queensland Government appointed John Bradfield on 15 December 1933 as consulting engineer to the Bureau of Industry who were in charge of the construction of the bridge. In June 1934 Bradfield's recommendation of a steel cantilever bridge was approved. The design for the bridge was based heavily on that of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, completed in 1930. On 30 April 1935 a consortium of two Queensland companies, Evans Deakin and Hornibrook Constructions, won the tender with a bid of ₤1,150,000. Construction on the bridge began on 24 May 1935, with the first sod being turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William Forgan Smith.

Until it was completed the bridge was known as the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George V. It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named for John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant who had advocated strongly for the bridge's construction.

This post is part of Louis' Sunday Bridges meme,
and also part of the Scenic Sunday meme.