The structure will jut out over the Bicentennial Bikeway atop 18 steel piles, with a steel platform to be manufactured offsite and craned into place so that it will sit just short of the edge of the expressway.

It is likely to become a signature feature of the Brisbane Metro, whose development has played second fiddle to the much larger Cross River Rail project.

Design plans for the platform and viewing area have been lodged with the Palaszczuk Government’s state assessment and referral agency, a planning body that gauges the level of state interests in new development.

Brisbane Metro will operate along existing and new busways between Eight Mile Planes and Roma St and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and the University of Queensland using electric vehicles capable of carrying up to 170 passengers.

It is aimed at expanding capacity on Brisbane’s existing busway infrastructure

The Metro consortium is well into building a 220 metre long tunnel under Adelaide St to connect North Quay and the busway tunnel underneath King George Square.

The new structures – to be located in an area of the city notoriously unappealing to walkers – are aimed at making good on Brisbane City Council’s plans to ensure a more pedestrian friendly precinct along both Adelaide St and North Quay.

The first Brisbane Metro vehicles are set to begin operation late next year, with services beginning about 12 months later.