By Allan Hogan, December 2020, Bulletin 10/2020
The Glebe Society has for many years called for the restoration and repair of the now-disused Glebe Island Bridge for use as a pedestrian walkway and cycleway. The Society organised a meeting at the Pyrmont end of the Bridge on Thursday 3 December, the 25th anniversary of the decommissioning of the Bridge and its replacement by the Anzac Bridge.
Glebe Society President, Janet Wahlquist, said that the heritage-listed bridge was identical in design to the Pyrmont Bridge which has been restored and well used by pedestrians and cyclists. ‘There have been calls for many years for the Glebe Island Bridge to be restored’, she said, ‘but now it’s slowly falling apart’. Ms Wahlquist referred to a report by a consulting company in 2013 that estimated it would cost $37.5m to restore the bridge, and $40m to demolish it. Other speakers at the meeting included Jamie Parker, the Member for Balmain, Jess Scully, Deputy Lord Mayor for the City of Sydney, and the Mayor of the Inner West Council, Darcy Byrne.
Jamie Parker paid tribute to Robyn Parker, a former heritage minister in a Liberal Government, who broke party ranks to back the heritage listing of the bridge in 2013. He said that Ms Parker’s courageous decision was a key reason why the bridge had not been demolished. ‘Now we have ground the wreckers of this bridge into an impasse’, Mr Parker said, ‘they are not strong enough to demolish it yet, (but) we haven’t managed to tip the balance in favour of re-opening and enlivening this bridge’.
Councillor Scully said that the State Government had been pursuing a policy of ‘demolition by neglect’ for the bridge. She said the City of Sydney had put forward plans for the restoration of the bridge ‘in every possible submission process to the State Government’. ‘There’s a whole generation of people who never saw this bridge swing into action’, she said, ‘they don’t know anything about the perilous journey of crossing that (Anzac) bridge to get from the inner West to the city. Our challenge is to activate and energise that next generation’.
The President of WalkSydney, Barnaby Bennett, who lives in Rozelle, said ‘we’re willing to spend billions of dollars on enormous bridges, off-ramps, on-ramps, and road projects, and yet we’ll have huge arguments about relatively small investments into walking projects which would absolutely stack up in a business case.’
With major projects planned for both the north and south ends of the bridge, including a new Metro rail station at White Bay, Jamie Parker says the proposed developments cannot be a success if a new link isn’t built between Rozelle and the inner West, and Pyrmont and the city. ‘This bridge is all about the future of our city, are we going to have a city that focuses on pedestrians and cyclists, or are we going to have a city that focuses on the car?’ he asked.
Mayor Darcy Byrne told the meeting he had toured the White Bay power station with Ministers Dominic Perottet and Rob Stokes after calls by the Treasurer to knock the building down. Mr Byrne said he told them the argument for preserving the White Bay power station is exactly the same as the argument for re-opening the Glebe Island Bridge. ‘These places are of enormous heritage significance to this city’.
Planning Minister Stokes is apparently more sympathetic to preserving the power station as part of the Government’s plans for the area, and Mayor Byrne hopes that the Government will also see the virtue of re-opening the Glebe Island Bridge to help unlock the economic potential of the Bays precinct.
Jamie Parker said that the Department of Planning is working on a master plan looking at how the bridge can work with the redevelopment of Blackwattle Bay, but also how the bridge can work with the Metro project. ‘Next year will be critical’, he said, ‘I’ll be working with all of the groups here and inviting us all to work together – councils, community, organisations, citizens – to bring together the weight of our collective persuasive tools to tell this government that the bridge should stay. It’s a campaign that we can and must win for our community.’
Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/transport-for-nsw-glebe-island-bridge-renewal-gibr-project/.
The video of the Glebe Island Bridge meeting is now on both Facebook and YouTube. It can be found at YouTube with the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrssV-VRrU4&feature=youtu.be, or by going to YouTube and using the following search words: Glebe Island Bridge Campaign.
A positive response on Glebe Island Bridge from Transport for NSW
On 12 November, Glebe Society President Janet Wahlquist, wrote to Rodd Staples, Secretary, Transport for NSW regarding restoration of the Glebe Island Bridge as a walkway and cycleway (https://www.glebesociety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Letter-re-Glebe-Island-Bridge-to-TfNSW-12-Nov-2020.pdf).
In the letter, the Society noted that since the Bridge was decommissioned 25 years ago, there has been a huge growth in the local population, an increase in cycling and walking and greater pressure on local walkways. These changes have increased the need for an alternative to the Anzac Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians wishing to transit from Balmain to Pyrmont or vice versa. The letter goes on to suggest that a timetable, like that used by the Spit Bridge, could be established to accommodate boats that are too tall to go under the closed bridge.
On 7 December, we received a response from Transport for NSW (https://www.glebesociety.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Response-to-OTS20-09172-Glebe-Island-Bridge-7-December-2020.pdf). James Dobinson, Active Transport Lead, Greater Sydney, stated that ‘Transport for NSW is investigating options for the long-term management of the Glebe Island Bridge. Options will aim to improve the condition of the Bridge, its heritage and reduce maritime safety concerns’. Mr Dobinson confirmed that ‘an integrated transport network with improved walking and cycling links is part of the Bays Precinct vision that includes investigating possible future uses for the State Heritage-listed Glebe Island Bridge’.
The letter also states that Transport for NSW will investigate ‘a foreshore loop in Blackwattle and Rozelle Bay and Glebe Island Bridge as a key walking and cycling link to Sydney CBD as it considers how to construct ‘a new continuous shared pathway from the Parramatta River to the Sydney Opera House’.
While the response from Transport for NSW provides us with some optimism, there is still no indication of a timeframe for halting the ‘demolition by neglect’ which the Glebe Island Bridge is currently facing.
2 comments. Please add yours.
Thank you for your comment.
We think that the restoration and repurposing of the Glebe Island Bridge can be to the benefit of all the community including boat traffic. In recent times we have seen an enormous increase in people flocking to harbour areas for picnics, to walk and to cycle. A working Glebe Island bridge would greatly increase people’s ability yo do this. Leaving the bridge open for the benefit only of large boat users in our view deprives a much larger group in the community from the benefit of the bridge as a walkway/cycleway and place where people can enjoy the water. We see the Bridge as an important part of a walk which should join the bays enabling people to walk right around and also join other harbour passive transport routes.
We would advocate for separate cycle and pedestrian-ways to avoid the possibility of conflict between users.
We have not sought for the bridge to be permanently closed. The ability to open and close it is crucial to cater for all users. The advantage of having specific times for opening and closing enables certainty for all users. We can’t see how payment to use the bridge would promote it’s beneficial use by the community
Janet Wahlquist
Any recommissioning of the Glebe Island Bridge has to take into account the maritime traffic in Blackwattle Bay as well as proposed pedestrian and cyclist use of the bridge. The suggestion that the GIB could be operated on the same basis as the Spit Bridge is not just impractical it is frankly stupid. The reduction of opening times of the Spit Bridge has condemned most of Middle Harbour as a beautiful but unnavigable backwater to most boat owners with bridge wait times of up to fourteen hours and considerable vehicular traffic inconvenience. It is a danger to pedestrians and cyclists alike, this is clearly not a model for the Glebe Island Bridge
Any solution that ignores the legitimate needs of commercial fisherman, heritage vessels, yacht owners, waterborne visitors to a revitalised fish market, ferry operators and their passengers and vital maritime contractors is both selfish and stupid.
It is time the Glebe Society took account of all users of Blackwattle Bay not just the rowers, walkers and cyclists. Some of us revel in the coming and going of vessels on the Bay, its the difference between a harbour and a boating pond. The society needs to hear and represent us all.
If we are going to have two bridges for both pedestrians and cyclists why not make the Anzac bridge cyclist only and the Glebe Island Bridge pedestrian only it would improve safety, the increasing speed of cyclists on the Anzac Bridge is clearly an issue to all pedestrians. If a small toll was charged to traffic over and under the GIB it could generate enough revenue to allow the bridge to be opened and closed on demand.