Pyrmont Bridge, now a footbridge linking the city of Sydney to the Darling Harbour precinct, is the second bridge built to span Darling Harbour at this locality. It was built to carry road traffic entering the Sydney central business district from the west via Pyrmont Bridge Road.

The first Pyrmont Bridge was a privately owned timber structure which was opened on 17th March 1858. A toll was charged to use it, and needless to say, it made its owner very rich. Following the adoption of the Five Bridges Plan, the bridge was purchased by the government in 1884 for $52,500 and the toll was abolished. As it was a major traffic bottleneck, plans for a replacement bridge were quickly approved and construction commenced.
The current Pyrmont bridge was opened to traffic on 28th June 1902. The bridge and its neighbour at Glebe Island were the world's first electrically operated swingspan bridges. With swinging spans originally driven by power from the Ultimo Power Station (which originally provided electricity for Sydney's tramways) which now houses the Powerhouse Museum, these similar bridges follow a design by Percy Allan, who achieved international acclaim for them and went on to design 583 more bridges worldwide. John JC Bradfield, who masterminded the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was a junior member of Allan's design team.
Twelve of Pyrmont Bridge's 369 metre spans are made of ironbark; the two opening central spans are made of steel. The opening spans are still driven by their original motors which are in fact tram motors as used by Sydney's trams. Built to bring traffic from Sydney's inner western suburbs along Pyrmont Bridge Road and into the city at Market Street, the bridge had become a traffic bottleneck by the 1970s. The bridge was closed to road traffic in 1981 following the completion of the Western Distributor but was restored and opened to pedestrian traffic on the opening of the Darling Harbour precinct in 1988.

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