Painters are about to begin a five-year project to completely repaint Brisbane’s 79-year-old Story Bridge for the first time since it opened.

Work will begin after this year's Riverfire, at the culmination of the Brisbane Festival.

Brisbane City Council will next week call tenders for one of the city’s biggest-ever paint jobs, repainting the kilometre-long bridge, including the iconic span over the Brisbane River.

Brisbane's Story Bridge to be repainted for the first time. Credit:Tony Moore

Though its paintwork has been “touched up” several times, it will be the first time the Story Bridge has been repainted entirely since it opened in 1940.