The Captain Cook Bridge is a

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

that carries the Pacific Motorway across the

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 on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the G ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, in the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. It was built exclusively for vehicular traffic and was completed in late 1972. The bridge had its naming ceremony on 13 December 1972, with it opening in January/February 1973. A once only pedestrian walk event across the bridge happened shortly before it was opened to vehicular traffic on 21 January 1973, organised by the Rotary Club of Stones Corner. The bridge crosses at the South Brisbane Reach of the river, linking

Gardens Point Gardens Point is a peninsula in central Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located south of Alice Street and bounded by the Brisbane River on its other three sides. The Brisbane CBD lies immediately to the north of the point. Gardens Poi ...

in the

Brisbane central business district Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...

on the north side to Kangaroo Point and South Brisbane on the southside.

Location and features

Captain Cook Bridge is constructed as a multispan, precast prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge with drop-in mid-spans. Comprising a dual carriageway that creates two separate bridges, one for each direction of traffic, heading north–south over the Brisbane River. Each bridge carries four lanes of traffic in one direction and links the M3 Pacific Motorway to the M3 Riverside Expressway. It is the main route from the city's south into the

. At the time of completion, the main span of held the world record for this type of structure for a period of three months, when it was superseded by the

Harada Bridge Harada (written: ) is the 52nd most common Japanese surname. Notable personalities with this surname include: *, Japanese actor *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese Zen Buddhist monk *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese rock climber *, Japanese ...

in Japan with a span of . The structure is Queensland's busiest traffic bridge with more than one million vehicles crossing it weekly in 2007. Downstream from the Captain Cook Bridge is the Story Bridge, while the Goodwill Bridge 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 had been cut.

Upgrades

A maintenance project, started in late 2019, and estimated to cost $26 million, was still ongoing in July 2022.

References

External links

* {{Brisbane bridges navigation Bridges completed in 1972 Bridges over the Brisbane River Concrete bridges in Australia Road bridges in Queensland Box girder bridges Kangaroo Point, Queensland Brisbane central business district South Brisbane, Queensland 1972 establishments in Australia

Location and features

Upgrades

See also

References

External links