William Jolly Bridge, Brisbane

As a part of the City of Lights project promoted by Brisbane City Council, the heritage-listed William Jolly Bridge has been further highlighted by a dynamic LED lighting system

Once called The Grey Street Bridge, this old bridge dates back to the early 30’s, when it became the proud answer of Brisbane to the "architectural rivalry” with the city of Melbourne. The Grey Street Bridge opening over the Brisbane River was a grand event on March,30 1932, just eleven days after the inauguration of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The art deco styled construction was then defined as: "a bridge of classical design over the most beautiful river in the Commonwealth” and made the city of Brisbane very proud of its architectural masterpiece. First of this kind in Australia, this vehicular and pedestrian steel frame arch bridge with an unusual concrete veneer had been erected on two piers in the river and two pylons on the opposite river banks, which supported together three elegant rainbow arches.

At the time of its conception, there was only one bridge crossing on the Brisbane River, the Victoria Bridge. It connected the Brisbane central business district and South Brisbane, but it suffered badly from traffic congestion during peak periods. The Grey Street Bridge was therefore conceived as a bypass for motor traffic between the southern and western suburbs of Brisbane to avoid increasing traffic jams on the Victoria Bridge and on CBD streets. Some really impressive old black-white pictures recall the construction phases of the bridge showing the structural and technical difficulties that had to be overcome at those times. It was called the Grey Street Bridge from its opening till July, 5 1955, death date of William Jolly, who had been Mayor of Brisbane during the bridge construction time. The William Jolly Bridge was then listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on August, 6 1996.