Article: Residents are concerned that closed road over rail bridges will hamper

[ozbob]

From the Couriermail click here!

Residents are concerned that closed road over rail bridges will hamper emergency services vehicles

Residents are concerned that closed road over rail bridges will hamper emergency services vehicles

    by: Rose Brennan and Kate McKenna
    From: The Courier-Mail
    July 16, 2012 12:00AM

DETERIORATING road-over-rail bridges in southeast Queensland have been closed because of safety concerns while independent investigations are ordered.

Residents are also concerned about the impact these changes have on emergency services.

Bridges at Frederick St and Alderley Ave, Alderley, and Herbert St, Ipswich, were closed in the past months and a bridge at Boundary Rd at Dakabin had its load limit reduced at the start of the month.

Two other bridges are open but are subject to investigations.

Four traffic controllers are stationed at the Dakabin bridge 24 hours a day and have been redirecting heavy vehicles since June 22.

"These bridges have been closed due to safety concerns," a spokesman for Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson confirmed.

A load limit was first put in place at the Dakabin bridge in October last year but following an independent assessment "engaged by Queensland Rail" the limit was reduced from four tonnes to two tonnes on July 1.

The future of all the bridges now hinges on the findings of an "independent assessment ... (that) will guide the future of these bridges," the spokesman said.

The spokesman acknowledged that the traffic controlling at Dakabin was a "short-term solution".

All five timber road-over-rail bridges are more than 50 years old, QR confirmed.

Queensland Rail could not provide a definite time frame for permanent repairs to the Dakabin bridge.

Dakabin resident Kevin Ball, 65, lodged a complaint about the bridge with The Courier-Mail's Traffic Hot Spots campaign after a traffic controller at the bridge told him a fire truck, with its lights flashing and sirens blaring, had been turned away because it "well and truly exceeded" the two-tonne limit.

Mr Ball argued that precious minutes had been wasted while firefighters were forced to detour up to 2km.

"This is the major thoroughfare for motorists to get through, from the freeway to the northern suburbs, like Warner and Everton Park," Mr Ball said.

"It could be life-threatening and if anything serious happened there would be blue murder."

Mr Ball was infuriated that Queensland Rail was spending money employing several traffic controllers to guard the bridge around the clock.

[HappyTrainGuy]

I have the solution for you Mr Ball.



A cement barrier so no one can use the bridge.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Wait just a minute. Something just clicked. Warner?? Everton Park?? Are you sure mate. This is the same Boundry Road bridge located just south of Narangba?? If people are coming from the north then they should use the turn off earlier onto New Settlement Road and travel down to Burpengary road to the Narangba LX or down Old Gympie Road/Mackie Road to the Narangba LX and then down Narangba Road. Then continue the 1.5km to get to the Boundry road bridge and about another 10km to get to Warner. There's also the option to continue down Old Gympie Road to the Alma Park Zoo exit and follow Alma Road (which isn't difficult if you know the area or know how to drive in a straight line) to the Dakabin underpass or follow Old Gympie Road into Kallangur that meets up with Anzac ave. There's also another option to continue futher down and utilise the North Lakes turn off and go along Anzac Ave/Gympie Road to get to Todds road or Samsonvale road depending on where you lived. For Everton Park why not say on the 100kph limit to Linkfield Road exit at Bald Hills then onto South Pine road all the way to Everton Park. Or the Beams Road exit at Carseldine to Bridgeman Road which connects to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or Graham Road exit at Carseldine to Bridgeman Road to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or Albany Creek Road exit at Aspley to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or the Webster road exit in the middle of Aspley/Chermside to Stafford Road along to Everton Park.

It must be a very major bridge for those people as there aren't that many other options available.

(For the record it might be an ideal bridge to utilize but there are plenty of other options available. Especially the Dakabin underpass or the Narangba LX).

[mufreight]

Wait just a minute. Something just clicked. Warner?? Everton Park?? Are you sure mate. This is the same Boundry Road bridge located just south of Narangba?? If people are coming from the north then they should use the turn off earlier onto New Settlement Road and travel down to Burpengary road to the Narangba LX or down Old Gympie Road/Mackie Road to the Narangba LX and then down Narangba Road. Then continue the 1.5km to get to the Boundry road bridge and about another 10km to get to Warner. There's also the option to continue down Old Gympie Road to the Alma Park Zoo exit and follow Alma Road (which isn't difficult if you know the area or know how to drive in a straight line) to the Dakabin underpass or follow Old Gympie Road into Kallangur that meets up with Anzac ave. There's also another option to continue futher down and utilise the North Lakes turn off and go along Anzac Ave/Gympie Road to get to Todds road or Samsonvale road depending on where you lived. For Everton Park why not say on the 100kph limit to Linkfield Road exit at Bald Hills then onto South Pine road all the way to Everton Park. Or the Beams Road exit at Carseldine to Bridgeman Road which connects to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or Graham Road exit at Carseldine to Bridgeman Road to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or Albany Creek Road exit at Aspley to Beckkett Road along to Everton Park. Or the Webster road exit in the middle of Aspley/Chermside to Stafford Road along to Everton Park.

It must be a very major bridge for those people as there aren't that many other options available.

(For the record it might be an ideal bridge to utilize but there are plenty of other options available. Especially the Dakabin underpass or the Narangba LX).

Removing infrastructure such as road overbridges is never a good move, these bridges either need to be repaired or as a more positive move replaced.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Yeah but the Boundry road overpass is hardly in a populated area or there is a significent population of people/businesses on both side of the bridge. Its still 1-1.5km to the Narangba overpass. Old Gympie Road is just as fast to/from the highway. Across the bridge is bushland/someones paddock. If its closed it's not going to be the end of the world. Its already been marked for removal anyway as there is no room for a third track thru that location when the Caboolture triple goes through. Save the funds for fixing it, save the funds for building a new bridge, save the mtce funds, close the bridge, divert that funding into a new underpass at Dakabin that can take traffic in both directions at the same time and seeding traffic from Narangba Road straight onto Alma Road.

[HappyTrainGuy]

This weekend will see the bridge replaced with the new deck and should be reopen in a couple or so weeks.