Neville Bonner Bridge first walk

The first 500 lucky people got a sneak preview of the Neville Bonner Bridge before it opens for all next year, connecting South Bank to Queen’s Wharf Brisbane.

Ticket holders queued early with anticipation to walk to the Lookout at the halfway point of the Brisbane River’s newest centrepiece.

The feedback from the 500 public ticket holders, who can now claim to be the first to walk on the Neville Bonner Bridge, named in honour of Australia’s first Indigenous parliamentarian has been overwhelmingly positive.

Comments included “the view is so big and amazing,” “elegant how it sweeps across the Brisbane River,” and “for my generation to see all this development, it’s amazing,” said one 95-year-old woman.

The Neville Bonner Bridge will change the cross-river connectivity of the city when it opens.

The 320m Neville Bonner pedestrian-only bridge connects the South Bank Cultural Forecourt to the Queen’s Wharf integrated resort at its restaurant and retail level.

The bridge has stairs and a ramp at the South Bank end and numerous lifts, escalators and stair options at the resort precinct enabling connectivity throughout the resort, public realm areas and through to William and George Streets.

It’s expected there will be around 10,000 pedestrian crossings a day when the bridge opens to the public in 2024.

The Star and Destination Brisbane Consortium were proud to host the sneak preview ahead of Brisbane Festivals’ Riverfire event on Saturday 2 September.

The bridge is currently an exclusion zone at the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane end but will open fully as part of the $3.6b tourism precinct’s planned phased launch from August 2024.