Welcome to Aura: Bridge opening gives public access to new Sunshine Coast community
The first major piece of infrastructure at Stockland’s new Aura community was officially opened today, 2 November, with the colourful Aura Boulevard Bridge giving Sunshine Coast residents the first public access into the masterplanned community.
Strong buyer demand continues at Aura’s first suburb of Baringa, with more than 360 lots sold since the launch of land sales in April this year, and the new access will allow keen home buyers to view home sites in the future city.
Sunshine Coast Division 1 Councillor Rick Baberowski was one of the first people to travel across the new $5 million two-lane bridge after officially opening stage one of Aura Boulevard, which connects Baringa to Bellvista and Bells Reach.
Aura Boulevard includes the first stage of Aura’s Veloway, a dedicated two-way cycleway which will be progressively extended throughout the future community to form part of more than 200 kilometres of cycle paths.
Bellvista Community Association president and keen cyclist Les Thomas tried out the Veloway at the opening, joining Cr Baberowski and fellow cyclists for a ride across the bridge.
Ben Simpson, Regional Manager for the Sunshine Coast at Stockland, said the opening of the first stage of Aura Boulevard was timed to coincide with the start of construction on the Aura Display Village.
“This is a major milestone for our exciting new community and is the first completed project as part of Stockland’s $1.3 billion Infrastructure Agreement to support the development of Aura,” Mr Simpson said.
“The bridge has been aligned to take in the stunning views of the Glass House Mountains and Aura’s remnant Blackbutt forest, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to stop along the bridge and soak in the panoramic scene before them.
“The unique wave effect of the bridge’s design reflects our vibrant ‘City of Colour’ vision with 75 different colour variations across 39 diamond facets.”
The 75 metre bridge spans Lamerough Creek and, in addition to the dedicated two-lane roadway and separate two-lane Veloway, the Aura Boulevard Bridge includes a pedestrian walkway across the bridge as well as a pedestrian underpass. Stockland and its contractors took 12 months to construct the bridge, which was completed and opened on schedule.
The design includes specialised fauna crossings, including a “frog highway” under the bridge, ropes erected overhead for possums and other native marsupials and a wide landscaped verge for fauna to safely travel through the Lamerough Creek corridor.
Aura Boulevard will link up with the first stage of the Bells Creek Arterial Road, which is due to be completed by the end of this year, weather permitting. It is expected to be open to traffic early next year once the necessary approvals had been gained from the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
Two new land releases at Baringa will be made available this Saturday, 5 November, with lots ranging in size from 213 square metres to 597 square metres and priced from $174,400 to $288,400.
Aura is Australia’s largest ever masterplanned community under single ownership and will become the first new city in the nation to be designed and constructed to the world’s highest environmental and sustainability standards.
For more information on Aura, go to www.cityofcolour.com, visit the Aura Vision Centre on Bells Reach Drive, Bells Reach or phone 1300 762 058. You can also keep up with the community’s progress on Facebook at www.facebook.com/auraqld.
