River Plaza CityFerry Terminal to Reopen in July 2011
19 May, 2011
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has announced the River Plaza CityFerry terminal at South Brisbane will be rebuilt and an interim terminal opened by the end of July.
Cr Quirk said the news followed last month’s opening of temporary pontoons at seven CityCat and CityFerry terminals that were severely damaged during the January floods.
“Council has been working tirelessly to restore the CityCat and CityFerry network and the reopening of the final ferry terminal reaffirms Council’s commitment to getting Brisbane back in business,” he said.
“Once we got confirmation that the Federal Government would fund flood damaged ferry terminals, we looked at when we could get River Plaza up and running.
“Our priority was getting the busy CityCat terminals up and running within three months after the network was wiped out by the devastating flood.
“While River Plaza will fill a missing link, the reality is that it is only serviced by the smaller CityFerry service and attracts less than one customer per journey.”
Latest figures show there was an average of 68 passengers per day from 1 November 2009 to 31 October 2010. It is not serviced by the larger CityCat ferries.
Cr Quirk said off site repairs would commence on the interim terminal this month and it was expected to be operational on 31 July.
The River Plaza reconstruction and reopening will follow the West End ferry terminal, which is expected to be operational in July. Council has fast-tracked a major upgrade of the terminal that would allow two CityCats to dock at once when completed in July.
Construction of the new CityCat terminals at Northshore Hamilton and Teneriffe is underway.
Brisbane’s CityCats and CityFerries resumed last month at University of Queensland (St Lucia), Regatta, North Quay, QUT Gardens Point, Holman Street and Sydney Street.
River Plaza works will involve repairing the damaged infrastructure and reinstating the pontoon and gangway as an interim ferry terminal until the permanent terminal is constructed in approximately two years.
Cr Quirk said every effort would be made to minimise disruption to the local community during the works.
