Each day, drivers cross the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, which connect Eagle Farm to the north with Murarrie to the south as part of the Gateway Motorway. It is a route they pay for, every single time. Now, a growing number of those drivers want that to change.
Read: Gateway Motorway Leads Brisbane’s Lost-Load Incident Count
A petition lodged with the State of Queensland is calling for tolls to be removed from all of Brisbane’s bridges and tunnels, and it has attracted 1,509 signatures. The tolled network targeted by the petition includes the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, the Go Between Bridge, the Clem7, the Airport Link tunnel, and Legacy Way — five routes that together recorded around 490,000 motorists since June 2025.
The frustration is not hard to understand. Airport Link tolls rose on 1 January this year in line with Brisbane’s Consumer Price Index, which is another increase that has landed heavily on commuters already juggling rising living costs. The costs accumulate quickly for daily commuters making the run to the CBD or airport precinct and back.
What grates further is that paying a toll is no guarantee of a smooth run. Brisbane commuters lost an average of 84 hours to traffic congestion in 2024, a 14 per cent increase on the previous year. For Murarrie residents who rely on the Gateway Motorway corridor as their primary route in and out, that figure will feel familiar.
The RACQ has stepped into the debate with a measured but cautionary position. The motoring club’s head of public policy, Dr Michael Kane, acknowledged the public frustration but warned against treating the removal of tolls as a straightforward fix.
He argued that scrapping tolls would reduce the money available for new infrastructure, given that construction debts would still fall to taxpayers regardless. He also described toll roads as primarily a funding tool rather than a reliable fix for congestion, and called for a broader review of how South East Queensland plans and pays for major road projects.
A spokesman for Transport and Main Roads has signalled that the petition will be handled through the usual process. No further detail was offered.
The toll debate in Brisbane has deep roots. In 2018, then Deputy Premier Jackie Trad called for the Go Between Bridge toll to be scrapped, arguing it did not even deliver drivers into the city. She said at the time that motorists should not be made to pay simply to travel between the city’s north and south. The toll is still there.
More recently, debate emerged over whether a new toll could fund a long-term fix for the ageing Story Bridge, a proposal that drew a swift backlash from commuters already stretched thin. Modelling indicated that if set at the same rate as the Gateway bridges, such a toll could raise more than $205 million a year within two years.
For residents in Murarrie, Morningside, and the surrounding eastern suburbs, the toll network is part of everyday life. The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges sit at their doorstep, and the petition now before Queensland reflects a broader conversation about how Brisbane’s roads are funded and who bears the cost. What Queensland decides to do with it remains to be seen.
Published 11-March-2026
