Extortionate cost of koala crossings a bridge too far
RE GC Bulletin July 29, let me be upfront to say that I am by and large a supporter of Tom Tate and his focus on the GC, progress, taking on the light rail protesters etc, but occasionally his enthusiasm/ thinking outside the square gets the better of him like the Beenleigh GC lights, the over designed blue/ green bridge at Bundall, the inprogress version at Bundall of what will be the GC version of the Tate Gallery, but enough is enough.
I am talking about the proposed koala bridges at $5m a pop. How does it work? Does council come up with a good proposal and says to some designer/architect, look just run amok design-wise as money is no object as it is only taxpayer/ratepayers money.
I don’t have a problem with the installation of the koala bridges but please, do they have to look so over the top?
Are the koalas going to cast a critical eye over the aesthetic design of the bridges before they set foot on them?
No, they will just spot a tree on the other side and head off for a feed.
Why cannot the bridges be of a simple design and thus saving my hard-earned dollars and be built/ installed more quickly?
I would assume anything simple would have vertical slab sides so that the koalas would not jump on the road and if this was the case surely they could be painted with koalas swanning back and forth to jazz up the koala overpass.
There are a swag of the noise reduction walls along highways all over the place painted with kids faces/soldiers/undersea scenes of whales and their aquatic mates/ bush scenes and they look great.
Surely we can make a koala overpass that ticks boxes for less than $5m (watch for the cost blowout) a pop! If we are determined to splurge $10m on two bridges then maybe a more speed, less haste approach may see us able to have four bridges for the same money. The koalas would be rapt as the would not have to waddle as far looking for a bridge.
My apologies to the author Cornelius Ryan but this really is a A Bridge Too Far.
EDDIE BEVANS, SOUTHPORT