Length: 328m
Location: Crosses the Parramatta River between Gladesville
(Huntleys Point) and Drummoyne in inner western Sydney.
Service Particulars:
Commenced late 1959. Open to
traffic 2 October 1964.
Bridge Particulars:
Sydney's
Gladesville Bridge is one of the world's largest concrete arch bridges. The
structure is a low rise fixed arch consisting of four ribs.
Today's
Gladesville Bridge replaced a 245m long, 2 lane wrought iron lattice truss
bridge that was constructed in 1881. The original bridge had a swing span that
allowed passage to large vessels. It was demolished after the new bridge opened.
The location of the old bridge was west of the current bridge and its location
is easily distinguishable today. It crossed the river from Five Dock Point to
just downstream from the Gladesville Wharf. The old section of Victoria Road
that led to the bridge on the Drummoyne side is now renamed Victoria Place.
The
bridge and its approaches formed part of the original County of Cumberland freeway
scheme and the Gladesville Bridge was intended to be part of a freeway that
commenced west of the Sydney CBD, crossed the Gladesville Bridge then headed
north through the Lane Cove Valley. It would have joined todays M2 and F3. The
Tarban Creek Bridge (which opened simultaneously with the Gladesville) and Fig
Tree Bridge on Burns Bay Rd were also part of this proposed freeway. Plans for
this freeway have since been cancelled and its unlikely the freeway conditions
of the Gladesville Bridge and approaches will ever be part of the grand scheme
they were designed to be part of.
The bridge itself was originally proposed as a classical
steel truss cantilever structure. An alternative design submitted by an
Anglo-Australian consortium of Reed & Mallik of Salisbury UK and Stuart
Bros of Sydney Ltd convinced the DMR to go with the concrete arch structure.
The concrete arch was to consist of 6 lanes and 2 footways. It was also to have
a navigation clearance of 36.5m to allow for moderate size shipping - at the
time of design there was an active oil refinery upstream. It was to have a
service life of 100 years for traffic and load capacity.
The
earliest detailed design by Maunsell & Partners of London was for a 273m span
and was to be built in 3 sections with the central section being cast on a floating
centering. Foundation conditions caused the plans to be modified and the span
was extended to 305m. The final design was approved in 1957 but it took 5 more
years to finalise the construction details and engineering. Some of the design
participants included the University of Sydney through Professor J W Roderick,
Eugene Freyssinet and the French company STUP, and Sydney architects Fowell,
Mansfield & Maclurcan.
Construction for the arch foundations commenced in 1959
using cofferdams. They were completed on 22 August 1961 on the Gladesville side
and on the 30th October 1961 on the Drummoyne side. The centering was erected
in November 1961 and work on the arches started in early 1962. The first arch
rib became self-supporting in September 1962, the second in January 1963, the
third in March 1963 and the fourth in June 1963. The bridge was opened to
traffic on the 2nd October 1964 by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.
The roadway deck was 22m wide, carried 6 traffic lanes and
two raised 1.85m wide footways on each side. The 305m arch span fully clears
the river and is 41m above mean water level. The total horizontal width of the
arch is 25.3m with the deck's overall width of 27m widening to 36.6m on the
Gladesville approach.
Each
of the 4 arch ribs is 4.6m wide varying from 4.25m deep at the key to 7m deep
at the foundations. The foundations are set in Sydney sandstone which was just
below the surface on each side. There are two-column reinforced concrete piers
supporting the pre-stressed concrete deck beams supporting the roadway. Special
railings along the footways are 2.8m high preventing climbing but are transparent
enough to allow for motorists to gain excellent harbour and river views.
The total cost for the project in 1964 was $9 million (in
today’s dollars)- quite a paltry sum compared to the road projects of today.
Reports say that the bridge has performed exceptionally
well in the 37 years since it opened requiring minimal maintenance. Thorough
structural inspections are conducted by the RTA every 5 years to ensure safety
and structural integrity and it is said that the Gladesville Bridge will
outlast its designed 100 year service life.
The
footway on the upstream side was converted to roadway in 1982 to create more space
for expanding traffic. The bridge was classified as a heritage item by the National
Trust of Australia on 31 October 1990.
For more information and great pictures of the Gladesville Bridge, visit the Ozroads Gladesville Bridge page.
Information Source: www.ghd.com.au Paper compiled by
Bernard Shepherd of GHD, Melbourne and Ray Wedgwood of RTA, Sydney. Data
obtained online 7 Nov 2001.
Last modified 9 June 2005