2001: A Bridge for Pedestrians, Bicyclists, and Skaters is Opened in the Australian City of Brisbane

October 21, 2001

The Goodwill Bridge in Brisbane, the capital and largest city of Australia’s state of Queensland, was officially opened. This structure, which spans the Brisbane River, was built for walking, bicycling, and inline skating. The Goodwill Bridge serves as a connection between Gardens Point in the central business district of Brisbane; and — via the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) campus — the South Bank Parklands in the city’s suburb of South Brisbane.

This steel through arch bridge was named after the Goodwill Games, an international sports competition that first took place in Moscow in 1986 and was held for what would be its final time in Brisbane from August 29 to September 9, 2001.

The original plan for the inauguration of the Goodwill Bridge was to have it opened by Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) while she was in Brisbane to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, this biennial summit was postponed and the queen did not travel to Australia at that point in time. (The postponed Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was ultimately held the following year in Queensland’s town of Coolum.)

The inaugural duties for the Goodwill Bridge were consequently performed instead by Peter Beattie (born in 1952), who served as premier of Queensland from 1998 to 2007. About 15,000 people attended this ceremony.

The Goodwill Bridge is 1,4801 feet (450 meters) in length and 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) in width. Approximately 40,000 people are estimated to walk, run, cycle, or skate across this bridge on a weekly basis.  

Photo Credit: John Robert McPherson (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:John_Robert_McPherson) – licensed under the Creative Commons at Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Additional information on the opening of the Goodwill Bridge is available at https://digitalcollections.qut.edu.au/6658/1/InsideQUT-issue219%20-2002.pdf