SYDNEY'S ROAD BRIDGES

1867 - Victoria Bridge, Penrith

Together with its sister bridge at Menangle, the Victoria Bridge is one of the oldest and finest railway bridges in NSW. Spanning the Hawkesbury River near Penrith, it was built between 1862 and 1865. The bridge features three spans made of wrought-iron of a cellular construction, each 57m in length and resting on two intermediate piers. The bridge was destroyed by floods in 1857. Reconstructed, it was again destroyed in 1860. Restoration of the road bridge was deferred because plans were almost completed for the extension of the railway across the river and over the mountains and it was considered that part of the railway bridge could then be used by road vehicles.
One legend has it that the Victoria Bridge was originally constructed for the Crimea and when not required, was bought by the NSW Government. This is not so. It was in fact designed in Sydney by the Engineer-in-Chief, John Whitton, who sent the design to England for checking. One interesting feature of the structure is that it is about 2 metres higher than was originally intended. Before the final designs for the piers were completed, severe floods indicated that it would be desirable to raise the level, and the design was adjusted. This explains the provision of the rising 1 in 200 grade on each side of the bridge.

The bridge was shared by single lanes of road and rail traffic until 1907, when double line railway trusses were completed alongside (above) and it became a two-lane road bridge for the Gt Western Highway. As the width of the bridge was only 7.77 metres, during its time of carrying two modes of traffic a galvanised iron fence was erected down its centre to separate them. In order to prevent the larger road vehicles from striking the fence, two channel strips were laid to form wheel guides. In addition, a warning system was introduced so that horse-drawn vehicles could clear the bridge before a train crossed. This was because certain horses became nervous due to the noise of the trains.
Photo: Penrith City Library

The Gasworks Bridge over the Parramatta River is one of 32 lattice girder bridges built between 1870 and 1893 throughout NSW. Twenty were road bridges, twelve were railway bridges (Meadowbank and Como Bridges, were two such bridges). Built to carry a road (Macarthur Street) and not a railway as is commonly thought, Gasworks Bridge remains the only lattice girder bridge in the Sydney metropolitan area that is still in use for the purpose it was designed.
This bridge has the same deep, rectangular lattice trusses of John A McDonald's early designs, but does not have the diaphragm-tied piers of so many of the other lattice bridges. Here, the bridge is supported on large sandstone piers. It has three main spans each 31m in length and two steel beam approach spans. The overall length is 110m.
Just east of the Gasworks Bridge is the site of the first official landing place in Parramatta where Governor Phillip and a small party of Marines arrived in 1788 to establish the colony's second settlement. Once-thriving industries such as flour and woollen mills, a gasworks (after which the bridge was named), boatsheds and inns were located on the riverfront here to support the settlement.

Unwins Bridge, which takes Bayview Avenue over the Cooks River at Tempe is a 5-span steel beam bridge. The substructure consists of concrete-filled pairs of cast iron cylinders, cross-braced and with ornamental caps. The superstructure consists of parallel steel beams, decked by buckled plates and topped by a recent concrete slab. It has five spans each 9.75m in length, an overall length of 49m. The bridge was completed in 1891 to a design prepared by Engineer for Bridges, John A McDonald.

The North Sydney Tramway and Development Company was formed in 1889 to develop and sell land in the area beyond Flat Rock Creek. In 1889 work commenced on the construction of the bridge across Long Bay gully. It was to carry traffic and trams, opening up the north and increasing the value of residential land on both sides. The resulting suspension bridge was seen as an engineering masterpiece. It was an ornate structure, with castellated sandstone towers, and was the largest of its type in Australia and the fourth largest in the world. It was completed in January 1892, two years, nine months and £42,000 after commencement.
It was opened with much acclaim, becoming an instant tourist attraction featured on postcards and in many glossy publications of the day. Initially it operated as a foot bridge only with a toll charge of threepence return for adults and one penny for children. Due to the 1890's depression, both companies involved in building the bridge went into liquidation before the tramway had reached the bridge. More than a decade later it was extended from North Sydney as far as the bridge, opening in May 1909. This line assisted the development of the area beyond the bridge which was then known as Suspension Bridge.
In 1912 the bridge was given free of charge to the State Government. Repairs were made, the tramway was extended to the north side and the toll was removed. In the following year the subdivision beyond the bridge was named Northbridge, after the famous construction. The bridge carried the first tram in February 1914. It had to be closed to traffic in 1936 after serious faults were discovered in the steel work and cables. Its cables were removed and the roadway was supported by a reinforced concrete arch. The bridge was re-opened in September 1939, however trams did not use the bridge any more, this service being withdrawn and replaced by buses at that time.
Bridge history

Carrying Cumberland Street over the Argyle Cut in The Rocks, of interest are the abutments to the bridge with small obelisk shaped pylons on either side of the road (at the north and south approaches to the bridge), and intact original light fittings. The parapet of the part of the bridge directly over Argyle Street was replaced in the 1950s. The original parapet of the bridge can still be seen to the south of the southern abutments.
As part of the improvements undertaken by the Sydney Harbour Trust, Gloucester and Cumberland Streets were realigned and the two road bridges over the Argyle Cut replaced by a single bridge at Cumberland Street in 1911-12. Cumberland Street had previously been located to the west of its current location. The Cumberland Street bridge replaced the lower Gloucester Street Bridge and the higher Cumberland Street Bridge over the Argyle Cut. The work also involved the demolition of 22-24 Gloucester Street, part of View Terrace (now 26-30 Gloucester Street), and construction of the abutments to the bridge and the Argyle Stairs.

Constructed over the Lane Cove River between Ryde and Chatswood, Fullers Bridge was the first major reinforced concrete-beam bridge to be built in the Sydney metropolitan area. It was designed to carry a tramway to the Field of Mars Cemetery.

The older of the pair is a steel truss road bridge built to carry Princes Highway across the George's River. Known as the Georges River Bridge, it replaced a punt service. It was the last major bridge of designer Percy Allan (1861-1930), Chief Engineer for National and Local Government Works, whose other work included Pyrmont's swing bridge. At 499 metres it was the longest road bridge in Australia. Sutherland Shire Council made history for up to that time no Council ever pledged its revenue for such a major public work. It significantly helped open up the whole region south of the river and the South Coast.
The bridge comprises six through Pratt trusses and three deck plate web girders. It has a concrete deck supported on steel buckled plates between steel stringers. A degree of ornamentation was incorporated into the piers and abutments, the former by the use of oval-pierced concrete diaphragms and the latter with sandstone faced abutments creating a gateway effect.
The foundation stone was laid on 7th June 1923 by RT Ball, Minister for Works. British company Armstrong Whitworth supplied the steelwork at a cost of $160,640. State Monier Pipe Works erected the bridge for $219,000. It was opened by the Governor, Sir Douglas De Chair, on 11th May 1929. A toll was charged to use the bridge until May 1952.
In 1987 a new concrete and steel box girder bridge, known as Tom Ugly's Bridge, was completed alongside the 1929 structure. It has 8 x 70m spans, each composed of three steel box girders, with a composite concrete deck.
UBD Map 313 Ref Q 6
More information

Acclaimed as one of the most remarkable feats of bridge construction in the world at the time it was built, until recently the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the longest single span steel arch bridge in the world and is still in a general sense the largest. Since its completion in 1932, it has been an icon and an internationally recognised symbol of the the city of Sydney.
More information

From around 1800 there was a punt/ferry crossing the river at Ryde Road between Meadowbank and Rhodes. It began operating in 1898 and continued until the Ryde Road Bridge was opened in December 1935. The Rhodes ramp can be seen on the south bank just east of the Meadowbank Rail Bridge.
The original road bridge (above), erected further downstream at Uhrs Point had an opening span which lifted to allow larger craft to pass under. The lifting span enabled timber boats to deliver their cargoes to the State Timber Yards at Rhodes. It was a toll bridge and the toll was not removed until June 1949. In the 1980s a new bridge was built parallel to it but it has no opening span. The machinery associated with the original lifting span was dismantled when the new bridge was opened.
UBD Map 213 Ref G 6

The Berowra bridge is of arch span design and was the last arch span bridge of this style to be built in this period. It has an open spandrel ribbed arch of 25.6 m span and was ideally suited to the gorge site which provided structurally viable sandstone for foundations. The designer was A. Halvorseth, also the designer of an earlier concrete arch bridge in NSW, over Koorelah Creek between Tenterfield and Woodenbong and completed in 1931. At the time the Shire Clerk was insistent that there be at least a narrow foot bridge on one side of the bridge. This does not appear to have taken place. Construction of the bridge was funded by the Dept. of Main Roads at a cost of £4, 267.
This two rib reinforced concrete arch bridge has a main span of 25.6 m, and a total length of 40.8 m. The bridge deck consists of seven spans, the central 5 being over the arch. At each arch springing there is a framed blade wall supporting the approach spans which extend to the skewed abutments. The deck over the arch is effectively in 5 spans, the central span monolithic with the arches, the others supported on columns. The graceful arch can be appreciated from the walking tracks traversing the Gorge and from parts of the winding roadway. The original timber truss bridge over Tunks Creek is visible nearby.
The Galston Road through Galston Gorge was completed between 1891 and 1893 after an 1890s proposal for a northern rail link to Dural and to Wiseman's Ferry from Parramatta. Although greeted with strong community support, it did not eventuate. The road provided the fruit growers of the Dural, Arcadia and Galston districts with a direct road link to Hornsby and its rail service. Prior to this only a foot track existed across the gorge, which was steep, with fallen log crossings across Carters/Tunks Creek and Berowra Creek that were difficult to negotiate.

This bridge which carries Epping Road over Stringy Bark Creek at Lane Cove West is one of only four concrete arch road bridges in Sydney and one of a small number of concrete arch road bridges constructed in NSW between 1900 and 1948. This four-ribbed arch bridge built in 1940 is most similar in design to the two-ribbed arch bridges at Northbridge and Galston Gorge built in 1937 and 1939 respectively. This bridge's arch consists of four ribs, each supporting four piers. There are additional piers at the springings, with one additional set at each end, resulting in a nine span deck. The deck is a flat slab spanning continuously over the headstocks which connect each set of four piers. In 1990 the bridge was widened significantly to six lanes by the addition on the downstream side of a three span concrete bridge. The deck of the new bridge is a five cell prestressed trapezoidal concrete box deck. The bridge is sited over a long, steep gully of predominately native bushland vegetation. Previous spectacular views have been obscured by the natural growth of the vegetation. However, aspects of this view can still be seen from numerous walking trails around the valley. This bridge was one of more than 1,000 bridges the Department of Main Roads built, or had under construction, between 1925 and 1940.

This bridge was built to facilitate the military presence at Holsworthy Army Base during World War II. An example of both the design and construction developments of the 1930s, it demonstrates aspects of the changing relationship between road and bridge construction of the 1940s and 1950s. Reinforced concrete had found a prominent place in the bridging of minor waterways, in particular in the modest and easily built concrete slab and beam designs, the material favoured in many instances because it was perceived as relatively low-maintenance.
This two lane, 6 span, simply supported reinforced concrete bridge spans a tidal creek. Total length of the bridge is 37.1 m, its width is 6.7 m. The deck and piers are skewed and the bridge plan follows the road curvature.

The original Spit Bridge replaced a punt service in 1924. Described at the time as the ugliest bridge in Sydney, it had a centre span which was raised and lowered by a spider-like maze of girders, pulleys and cables hovering above it and mounted on the adjacent piers. Complete with a roadway, footway and tram tracks, it was built as a temporary measure only, but it worked well, even though it was designed and constructed in a space of less than 12 months. The bridge's northern approaches can be seen from Avona Crescent. The current bridge (above and right), a higher, 4-lane structure with a single-leaf electrically operated bascule span, was brought into use in 1949. The final cost of the bridge was approximately £1,100,000, well over the budget projections. The bridge took four years longer to complete than anticipated and it was reported that during construction a total of 12 months had been lost due to 33 separate industrial disputes while difficulties in constructing the foundations had also caused delays.
Increased traffic in recent years has now turned the bridge into a bottleneck. Options for the future that have been considered include a duplicate bascule bridge or a high level structure similar to the Roseville Bridge.
UBD Map 197 Ref C 12
Further information about the bridge

1955 - The Cahill Expressway

Sydney's first freeway - the Cahill Expressway - is thr elevated roadway on the top deck of a two level steel structure across the front of Circular Quay. Part of the southern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it directs traffic off and onto the bridge to and from the eastern sector of the Central Business District. The twin lines of the City Circle railway and Circular Quay station occupy the middle level of the structure, the Circular Quay ferry terminals are located beyond the ground floor level of the structure.

A suburban train leaves Circular Quay station beneath the Cahill Expressway

Like much of what was built around the world in the 1950s, it is functional though rather ugly, and in a more environmentally and aesthetically conscious era would never have been allowed to be built. In recent years, there has been a groundswell of support for its removal as it is seen by many as an eyesore and an unnecessary barrier between the city centre and the harbour foreshore.
During the run-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Federal Government offered to go halves in the cost of removing it and sinking the railway, but the NSW State Government said it could not make available the funds to finance its share, citing more important projects to spend public money on.
At the time of these negotiations, the harbour tunnel was being built and it was hoped by many that the Expressway would become unnecessary, and could therefore be pulled down, but this did not happen. The constant increase in north-south traffic using the bridge and tunnel has seen Expressway traffic on the increase again after an initial drop when the tunnel first came into use.
Photos: under construction

1956 - Iron Cove Bridge

The present bridge replaced an earlier structure which was built and opened in 1882 to complete the Five Bridges route. Unlike most bridges of its era, the 1882 structure did not end up in the scrap metal yard. Gordon Duff, an enterprising engineer for the Jemalong Shire Council at Forbes purchased the bridge's lattice steel spans and had the re-erected at various sites throughout the shire. It is commonly believed that Iron Cove was named because of the Iron Bridge which spans its mouth. This is not so; it was known as Iron Bark Cove in the 1800s as a forest of iron bark trees surrounded its shores. The current name is a shortened version of the original.
The Iron Cove Bridge is an impressive steel truss bridge consisting of four 18m plate girder approach spans and seven 52m steel Pratt truss spans for a total length of 461.26m. The design of the bridge incorporates many elements of the Inter-War Art Deco style which was at its peak in Australia between 1915 and 1940. It was the last steel truss bridge to be constructed in NSW in which rivets were used for field connections prior to the introduction of high strength bolts. Four lanes of traffic are located within the truss spans. The roadway consists of a 127mm reinforced concrete deck slab with an inset for tram tracks in the centre portion. The Bridge was officially opened by the Premier and Colonial Treasurer of NSW, JJ Cahill, on 30th July, 1955.
A 2 lane concrete road bridge was built alongside the Iron Cove Bridge in 2011 to alleviate traffic conjection. It is offically called the inner-west busway. Local residents and businesses have opposed the bridge duplication, saying it would and has increased congestion on either side of the bridge and surrounding streets.

1962 - Silverwater Bridge

Road bridge over the Parramatta River which replaced a smaller timber structure. The new bridge was the first box-girder construction built in Sydney that followed new developments in pre-stressed concrete bridge construction overseas. Built by Department of Main Roads at a cost of £1.300,000 and opened on 10th November 1962.
UBD Map 212 Ref F 7