Indooroopilly - Russell Terrace - Telstra barrier

Russell Terrace is a reasonably steep road traveling down from the Green Hills Reservoir at Chapel Hill to Moggill Road. On the downhill side footpath Telstra have placed some sturdy yellow metal rails which are permanently attached to the concrete footpath. These are presumably to protect their service pit cover from cars or other heavy vehicles that may choose to drive on the footpath and over this service pit. These rails also present an obstruction and dangerous strike risk to valid users of the footpath including cyclists and mobility vehicles. The rails are painted yellow which assists with mitigating the chances of a strike during daylight hours but there are no reflective devices fitted to provide advance warning at night or times of low visibility. The barriers are arranged in a pattern which essentially forces users such as mobility vehicles down the kerb and onto the road to pass them. It is not apparent how this particular service pit is at any greater risk of being driven over than any of the multitude of other service pits around and on footpaths in Brisbane. The expectation would be that all service pits are designed to handle such loads even though not ordinarily expected.

The following is a time line of frustration trying to get the problem addressed:

Mid 2007 

Bars installed

28 February 2008 

Reported to Council call centre via email

5 March 2008 

Acknowledged by the call centre (ticket #8025554) via email as having been forwarded to the Local Assets department (work request #1313772)

12 May 2008 

Follow-up email to call centre requesting status

13 May 2008

Response from call centre via email advising me that Telstra were informed of the issue on 19 March but directing me to contact Telstra to pursue the issue "as they are responsible for their infrastructure".

Email back to call centre requesting Telstra's reference number for the issue, and expressing discontent that Council did not appear interested in pursuing the issue itself

14 May 2008

Phone call from Council officer confirming that Council was (and apparently always had been) pursuing the issue with Telstra and expected the bars would be removed in the near future. The reason given for the delay was staff changes at Telstra. The officer advised that this case and photo is useful in current renegotiations of Telstra's blanket approval to perform works on Council land.