Gardens Point - Sediment buildup on bikeway

There is a section of the shared path of the bikeway at Gardens Point which passes between the Brisbane River and the South East Freeway. This section is adjacent to a grassed area. This grassed area was excavated by Energex in 2006 to install some electrical cable. After the work was completed the area was marginally 'restored' with some patches of turf but these were never maintained to allow them to establish and as a consequence they promptly died off. Subsequent passage of vehicles soon made this once grassed area into a dirt bowl. The result of this was that water from the downpipes of the overhead freeway soon washed large quantities of sediment onto the adjacent bikeway.

The problem was brought to the attention of the Brisbane City Council who refused to act and clean up the hazard from their own bikeway because they blamed Energex for causing it. The matter was escalated and it was brought to their attention that it was BCC infrastructure that was presenting the risk and hence the responsibility lay with Council to effect removal of that risk. It was pointed out that it was not the responsibility of users to know who caused the problem or take it up with that person. Council did then act to get Energex to clean up the problem and address the restoration of the grassed area. Energex were quite responsive once the problem was identified.

The result was that Energex re-turfed the main problem areas and either Energex or BCC provided temporary sediment barriers in the interim before the turf was laid. These sediment barriers were only partially effective but Energex responded quickly to lay the turf when this deficiency was pointed out.

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  Sediment runoff onto bikeway

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  Temporary sediment barriers