Intense rain from ex-Cyclone Alfred during Sunday night/Monday morning (9/10 March) raised the water level of the South Maroochy River far enough that the bridge that provides the only safe pedestrian connection between rapidly developing South Yandina and the services of the Central Business District was unusable. By midday Monday the water level in the river had fallen below the pedestrian pathway but the bridge was not safe to use because the safety rails on the downstream side, along with the security lighting fixed to those rails, had been flattened by the water flow. Safety warnings and safety barriers had been fixed at each end of the bridge although access to the bridge was still easily available for the adventurous who had an urgent need to get across the river. In fact, crossing the damaged pedestrian bridge was probably still much safer than the only other alternative: the Nambour Connection Road bridge, which leaves no room for a pedestrian when there is traffic in both lanes.
The fact that the pedestrian bridge has been engineered to survive inundation provides clear evidence that the responsible authorities know that the pedestrian connection between South Yandina and the Yandina town centre is vulnerable to inundation. Rather than being rigidly connected to the reinforced concrete pathway, the posts that support the rail are attached by hinges and are held in the vertical position only by the compression of a tightened bolt. Before the force of the water gets to a level sufficient to bend the post, the post can just rotate on the hinge to a horizontal position in which it is no longer subjected to a bending stress. The advantage of that system is that the posts are undamaged and can fairly easily be lifted back to the vertical position.
That is good design, but the experience of the Yandina community is that it does not need a rare cyclone for there to be sufficient rainfall to flood this pedestrian bridge. The SCC Bushcare Group that works on the maintenance of the riparian vegetation in Christina Low Park is all too familiar with the experience of seeing their bridge-level plantings washed away when the water rises to the level of the pathways. If not an annual occurrence, it is certainly regular.
This Alfred-induced incident highlights again an issue that the TMR and the SCC have consistently refused to acknowledge. President of the Yandina & District Community Association (YADCA) , Marie Reeve, said that a safe pedestrian crossing of the South Maroochy River has been an issue for decades and is becoming more urgent because of the growing industrial and residential development on the south side of the South Maroochy River. These developments have been made possible by Council decisions, endorsed by the State, to extend the Yandina Urban Footprint on the southern side of the river.
In response to issues raised by the community there have been token efforts to improve the safety of the pedestrian route across the Nambour Connection Road to the eastern side and the pathway through Christine Low Park, across the bridge and through the Lions Park: a safer road crossing and 24 hour lighting along the length of the pathway but the underlying issue remains. In the mid-2020s when there is an industrial and residential boom underway, safe and consistently available pedestrian routes have to be provided, not only in the new “planned developments” but in the historic towns that are now being expected to accept their share of piecemeal development that cumulatively have the same consequences.
The TMR justify their decision not to provide road level safe pedestrian access across the South Maroochy River on the basis that the low level pedestrian bridge is adequate. In the past pedestrians who have decided to risk crossing the traffic bridge have been seriously injured. Sadly, it will probably take a pedestrian fatality on the traffic bridge to raise the priority ranking in infrastructure investment from the current “unjustifiable” to “urgent”.
