Bridge safety on the agenda, but DTIS goes missing
BRIDGE FUTURE
It’s the concrete eyesore no one seems to want to take accountability for that remains both a pain and more seriously, a genuine safety hazard for locals and tourists alike.
The 65-metre long Mowbray River pedestrian bridge based just kilometres from the Douglas CBD and built by the State Government remains an ongoing problem with several locals taking a tumble on it during recent heavy rainfall.
“On visiting the ‘newish’ bridge (recently) I was disappointed (as) it was extremely dangerous / slippery,” a reader told Newsport.
“My husband and I both slipped over as did at least one person, per group, that were visiting at the same time. There was no signage at all.
“I am a local and am wondering when the bridge maintenance program and its access pathways will be completed?
“By the way, the north or western end of (the) bridge has (had) the barrier ripped off.”
And it seems getting comment about the bridge’s status or anything about its future is like seeking answers about the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle.
Upon reaching out to local Douglas Shire Council a staffer told Newsport as the Bridge is not a current asset of theirs we’re advised to contact the QLD Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport. (DTIS)
As such Newsport emailed (DTIS) three separate times last week, Monday 23, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 and each time we were met with no response to our enquiries – a department that’s sole responsibility and charter is to answer and service requests such as ours from journalists and the broader media.
On July 18 last year Newsport journalist Paul Makin reached out to Douglas Shire Council about the matter and received the following response from Mayor Michael Kerr.
“We’re not prepared to take the bridge on as an asset because of (the) mistakes made, Mr Kerr told our journalist.
“For example, the staircases are too steep and there is no handrail on the ramp that runs to the north is extremely steep and there’s no rails on that either, so people could go over the edge.
“There’s blind corners where people on mountain bikes could collide with pedestrians who could end up in crocodile infested waters.
“There needs to be seating (on the bridge) there needs to be shade and other things that a structure of this magnitude and a world class walking trail needs to have.
“We also we want an iconic place to see crocodiles and not just a concrete structure that costs ratepayers’ money.”
In addition, Newsport also reached out last week on three different occasions by email to get an update about the much discussed Wangetti Trail, however, again (DTIS) did not respond to our enquiries about this matter as well.
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