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The project will raise very low flood-risk roads, widen other roads and improve lighting and safety to connect thousands of pbadengers from Myrtletown – out near Luggage Point – and central Brisbane.
Lord mayor Graham Quirk said the remaining 50 percent of the money would be provided by the Port of Brisbane.
The $10.9 million project will allow buses and larger vehicles, most frequently connected to tours and the cruise industry, to use the network of roads to connect pbadengers with hotels and destinations.
At present the Pinkenba road is suitable only for the few homes and small businesses at Luggage Point.
Few changes have been made to the roads since 2016, although site works have begun recently.
Cr Quirk said tenders for the work would go out this week, work would begin in March and finish by the end of 2019.
The roads upgrade will be finished by the time the new cruise ship terminal opens in 2020.
The work will make major changes to Main Myrtletown Road, Priors Road, Bancroft Road, Brownlee Street, Main Beach Road and Marine Road at Pinkenba.
“While the state government is claiming this as their own, we have actually invested in this project,” Cr Quirk said.
“We believe that to have a cruise ship terminal which is away from the grain silos which is set up in a area which will take the biggest cruise ships in the world, is a very important step for Brisbane and its future.”
Infrastructure committee chair Amanda Cooper said Brisbane was Australia’s second most-visited cruise port after Sydney.
“It seems to be quite clear that all of the new (cruise ship) terminals are being constructed over the 270 metres in length,” she said.
Cr Cooper said roadworks brought the network up to the standard needed for the cruise ship terminal to operate effectively.
“We are specifically focusing on a number of sections of road that lead to the cruise ship terminal to make sure that we can widen those narrow sections,” she said.
“We need to raise levels in certain sections, relocate some utilities, we need to resurface and we need to future-proof the signals.”
The road project decision was backed by the council Labor opposition.
“We think the new cruise ship terminal is a really important project for the city of Brisbane and it’s great that the Port of Brisbane is going to undertake the project,” opposition leader Peter Cumming said.
“It is good for council to be involved in this as well. This is an important aspect of the tourism market.
“It is much better having a dedicated terminal rather than having the big ships pull in at the grain terminal at the port.”
Greens councillor Jonathan Sri voted against the road project.
“The cruise ship industry itself is incredibly environmentally unsustainable,” he said.
Cr Sri said the cruise ship development could have negative impacts on Moreton Bay’s riparian environment.
He questioned the possible impacts on dugongs, seagrbad beds and turtles in Moreton Bay and the extent of environment research in to the impacts of a potential cruise ship terminal.
The Port of Brisbane regularly monitors the Moreton Bay waters, seagrbad and mangroves as part of its operations.
Tony Moore is a senior reporter at the Brisbane Times
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