The Story Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Brisbane River. Part of Bradfield Highway (15), it connects Fortitude Valley to Kangaroo Point. Before the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 the Government of Queensland asked John Bradfield to design a new bridge in Brisbane. The bridge is named for John Douglas Story.
A bridge downstream of the Victoria Bridge was part of a larger plan, devised by Professor Roger Hawken of the University of Queensland in the 1920s, for a series of bridges over the Brisbane River to alleviate congestion on Victoria Bridge and to divert traffic away from the Brisbane central business district. The William Jolly Bridge was the first of the Hawken Plan bridges to be constructed. Lack of funds precluded the construction of the downstream bridge at that time. Initially plans called for a transporter bridge further downstream near New Farm.
In 1926 Kangaroo Point was recommended by the Brisbane City Council's Cross River Commission. Subsequently the bridge was constructed as a public works program during the Great Depression. A contract was awarded to Evans Deakin-Hornibrook Constructions Limited on 30 April 1935. The cost was to be no more than ₤1.6 million.
Construction on the bridge began on 24 May 1935, with the first sod being turned by the then Premier of Queensland, William Forgan Smith. Work sometimes continued 24 hours per day. On the 28 October 1939 the gap between the two sides was closed. Until it was completed the bridge was known as the Jubilee Bridge in honour of King George V. It was opened on 6 July 1940 by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland and named for John Douglas Story, a senior and influential public servant who had advocated strongly for the bridge's construction.
The design for the bridge was based heavily on that of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal, completed in 1930. The Story Bridge features prominently in the annual Riverfire display and is illuminated at night. In 1990 road traffic was halted so pedestrians could celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bridge's construction. Bridge climbs began in 2005 and are becoming a major tourist attraction.
The Story Bridge carries three lanes of traffic in either direction as well as a shared pedestrian and cycle way flanking each side. The road on the bridge is called the Bradfield Highway, and is the shortest highway in Australia. It is not to be confused with the Bradfield Highway that spans the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Initially a toll of sixpence (5 cents) was charged to use the bridge, with toll booths constructed at the southern end of the Bradfield Highway. Between 1952 and 1969 trolley-buses operated by the Brisbane City Council used the bridge.
The bridge also operates as a tourist and recreational destination as it is possible to go on limited guided walks to the top of the bridge.
