The iconic red pedestrian bridge that once spanned the Belconnen busway near Westfield Belconnen was removed during mall renovations in 2013, and after a period in storage, it was reinstalled as a replacement footbridge over the Molonglo River corridor near the Australia Federal Polytechnic (now University of Canberra) siteā€”repainted grey and integrated into the shared path network.

What happened to the Belconnen ā€œred bridgeā€?

  • Original location: The red-painted steel footbridge connected Belconnen Mall (now Westfield Belconnen) to Lathlain Street , crossing over the busway interchange. It was a well-known local landmark through the 1980sā€“2000s.
  • Removal: It was taken down as part of the Belconnen Mall redevelopment around 2013.
  • Storage: After removal, the structure was moved to the ACT Government depot in Fyshwick for storage while its future use was decided.

Where is it now?

The bridge was reused on a new alignment rather than being scrapped:

  • It was installed as a replacement pedestrian/cycle bridge where a path had collapsed beside the Molonglo River , in the vicinity of the Australia Federal Polytechnic / University of Canberra area (often referred to in reports as the Molonglo Reach/Bruce sector).
  • As part of its reuse, it was repainted from red to grey to meet current design standards and blend with the new surroundings.

So if youā€™re looking for ā€œthe red bridgeā€ today, you wonā€™t find it in red at Belconnen anymore; the same structure lives on as a grey footbridge over the Molonglo River corridor , serving walkers and cyclists in that area.

Quick timeline

  • Early 1980s: Red bridge operational over Belconnen busway to Lathlain St.
  • 2013: Removed during mall redevelopment; stored at Fyshwick depot.
  • Late 2013: Reinstalled over Molonglo River path corridor, repainted grey.

If you want to see it in person, aim for the shared path crossings near the Molonglo River close to the University of Canberra/Bruce precinct , rather than back at the Belconnen busway.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.