Walter Taylor Bridge
| Walter Taylor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Coordinates | 27°30′21″S 152°58′25″E / 27.505773°S 152.973606°ECoordinates: 27°30′21″S 152°58′25″E / 27.505773°S 152.973606°E |
| Carries | Motor vehicles, pedestrians |
| Crosses | Brisbane River |
| Locale | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Official name | Walter Taylor Bridge |
| Other name(s) | Indooroopilly Toll Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 299.7 metres (983 ft) |
| Longest span | 182.9 metres (600 ft) |
| History | |
| Construction cost | ₤85,000 |
| Opened | 14 February 1936 |
The Walter Taylor Bridge is a heritage-listed suspension bridge crossing the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is shared by motor traffic and pedestrians and is the only habitable bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.
The bridge is a similar design to the Hercilio Luz Bridge in Florianópolis, Brazil, with the truss carrying the bridge being above the roadway and meeting the cables at non-uniform heights. This means that the suspension cables actually form the top chord of the truss, and this configuration is known as the Steinman (after its inventor) or Florianópolis type.
The bridge is unique among Brisbane bridges in that the two towers of the bridge house residential accommodation, which were occupied until mid 2010 when the last members of the original tollmaster's family moved out. The Chelmer side of the bridge is bounded by a council park. A pontoon in this park was washed away in the 2011 flood, and has not yet been replaced (April 2013). The Walter Taylor Bridge is one of four bridges in close proximity to each other. The others are the Albert Bridge, Indooroopilly Railway Bridge, and the Jack Pesch Bridge.
The bridge was conceived, designed, built and funded by local visionary Walter Taylor, a contractor who lived in Graceville (adjacent to the suburb in Chelmer). Although there was a rail bridge to Indooroopilly and beyond to the northern suburbs of Brisbane, local residents were frustrated because there was no means by which cars could cross the river. Pedestrians had been able to cross the river on the 2 previous Albert Bridges from 1875–1893, and from 1895 until the opening of the Walter Taylor Bridge Construction work began in 1930.
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