Plan now to rid city of Riverside freeway, says UQ Architecture chief

Brisbane should plan to be rid of its riverside freeway by digging a tunnel under the city as planners are doing in Boston, USA, University of Queensland architecture head Professor Michael Keniger said today.

Writing in The Courier-Mail, Professor Keniger, who is also the state government architect, said the freeway poses the biggest obstacle to Brisbane people enjoying their river and should be done away with.

"The problem is the freeway divides the city from the river, and the north and south of the city from itself, whereas the river should be the uniting point," Professor Keniger said.

He said far-thinking city officials in Boston, Massachusetts, were undertaking a "Big Dig" to replace a freeway eyesore with new harbourside amenities and to take traffic underground.

"However long it takes us to implement, this is the kind of environmental decision we should be taking now to ensure that Brisbane is prepared for growing traffic problems and for greater integration of the river precinct."

Professor Keniger said Brisbane's founders did not foresee the city as a fine and notable city but the area's natural surrounds had the potential to make it one.

For more information contact Meredith Jackson, UQ Communications (telephone 07 3369 8085 or 0413 458 317) or Jan King (telephone 0413 601 248 or 07 3365 1120).