The Go Between Bridge, formerly known as the Hale Street Link, is a

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists over the

Brisbane River The Brisbane River (Turrbal language, Turrbal: ) is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia. It flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the ...

in inner-city

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The bridge connects Merivale and Cordelia Streets in West End to Hale Street and the Inner City Bypass at Milton. It is Brisbane's first inner-city traffic bridge in 40 years and carries around 12,000 vehicles per day. The bridge opened to traffic on 5 July 2010 and is now operated by Transurban Queensland. The Go Between Bridge is named after the popular Australian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster (musician), Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only co ...

, which was formed in Brisbane. The bridge was part of

Campbell Newman Campbell Kevin Thomas Newman (born 12 August 1963) is an Australian former politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 26 March 2012 to 14 February 2015. He served as the member for Ashgrove in the Legislative Assembly of Que ...

's TransApex transport plan. It extends the Inner City Bypass across the Brisbane River. A charity concert featuring

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

from the Go-Betweens and other singers was held on 25 June, followed by a community open day on 4 July 2010.

Protests

The bridge was unpopular with many residents of West End, and with some parents from the West End State school who were concerned about increased traffic and air pollution. The "Stop the Hale Street Bridge Alliance" was formed to voice these concerns. At the start of the bridge's construction two protesters were arrested for allegedly writing graffiti on a wall surrounding the project site.

Construction

Construction began in July 2008 and the project was completed in early July 2010. The bridge was built by The Hale Street Link Alliance (HSLA) which consisted of four companies; Bouygues Travaux Publics,

Macmahon Holdings Macmahon Holdings Limited is an Australian mining services and construction company. Founded in 1963, it is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. History Macmahon Holdings was founded in 1963 by Brian Macmahon. Its first mining contr ...

, Seymour Whyte and Hyder Consulting. During construction, lane closures on Coronation Drive caused delays for motorists and resulted in temporary changes to associated public transport services. The final concrete pour for the main bridge span occurred on 2 December 2009. The construction cost for the bridge was A$338 million.

Bridge structure

The Go Between Bridge is a four-lane bridge with dedicated pedestrian and cycle pathways. It is a three span, twin concrete

box girder A box girder or tubular girder (or box beam) is a girder that forms an enclosed tube with multiple walls, as opposed to an i-beam, - or H-beam. Originally constructed of wrought iron joined by riveting, they are now made of rolled steel, rolled ...

structure built using balanced

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

construction. The main bridge span is long, supported by two river piers located north and south of the abutments on each river bank. The pathways are wide and designed for equitable access. A pedestrian pathway is located on the eastern (city) side of the bridge and a cycleway on the western (Toowong) side. As the bridge is steep, the pedestrian path was built as a separate structure at a lesser grade. This allows for the path gradient to comply with equitable and disabled access requirements.

Naming

The Brisbane City Council held a naming competition for the bridge was held with ten short-listed suggestions put to a "popular vote" with "Go Between" attracting 30% of the vote. The winning name was announced on 29 September 2009.

, the guitarist for The Go-Betweens, later said, "When Grant and I sat around in 1978 thinking about the things we'd get from being in a rock band, a bridge wasn't one of them. It's not the actual bridge that's so astonishing, it's driving down roads that have those big signs like Ipswich, Gold Coast, and seeing Go Between Bridge. But really nice ... and a bridge is a beautiful thing. It's nicer than a Go-Between sewage works."

Toll

Initially the Brisbane City Council planned to recover the cost of the bridge by collecting a toll of $2.70 per vehicle. However, due to budget savings this amount was reduced to $1.50 until the end of 2010, then for the first six months of 2011 it cost $2.00, rising to $2.35 plus CPI from July 2011. The bridge features free-flow tolling with electronic tag and video matching payment options. Queensland Motorways has a 50-year lease to toll and operate the bridge. The bridge is operated by Transurban Queensland.

Route Numbering

The Go Between Bridge is numbered as M3 and State Route 33 Northwestbound but unnumbered Southeastbound.

Patronage

In July 2010, 9,000 vehicles per day were using the bridge, increasing to 11,725 by mid September 2010. It was expected that this figure would rise to 17,500 by 2011 and in 2021 be 21,000 vehicles. During its first year of operation the bridge collected A$8.18 million from tolls but cost $30 million to operate. During that period the highest number of daily uses was 15,783 on 24 March 2011.

Construction photo gallery

Image:HaleStreetLinkConstruction5.JPG, Go Between Bridge under construction, 9 August 2009 Image:HaleStreetLinkConstruction6.JPG, Go Between Bridge under construction, 17 October 2009 Image:HaleStreetLinkConstruction7.JPG, Go Between Bridge under construction, 17 October 2009

References

External links

Go Between Bridge

Hale Street Link
{{Brisbane bridges navigation Bridges in Brisbane Bridges over the Brisbane River Toll bridges in Australia Cantilever bridges in Australia Concrete bridges in Australia Road bridges in Queensland Bridges completed in 2010 Brisbane central business district South Brisbane, Queensland History of Brisbane 2010 establishments in Australia