2. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a
steel through arch
bridge across Sydney Harbour that
carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and
pedestrian traffic between
the Sydney central business
district (CBD) and the North Shore.
The dramatic view of the bridge, the
Harbour, and the nearby Sydney
Opera House is an iconic image of
Sydney, and Australia. The bridge is
nicknamed "The Coat hanger"
because of its arch-based
design. Furthermore, the bridge is
ubiquitously known to Sydneysiders
simply as "the Bridge".
Carries 8 road lanes, 2 rail tracks, 1
pedestrian way and 1
cycleway
Crosses Port Jackson (Sydney
Harbour)
Locale Sydney, Australia
Official name Sydney Harbour Bridge
Characteristics
Design Through arch bridge
Total length 1,149 m (3,770 ft)
Width 49 m (161 ft)
Height 134 m (440 ft)
Longest span 503 m (1,650 ft)
Clearance below 49 m (161 ft) at mid-span
History
Construction begin 28 July 1923
Construction end 19 January 1932
Opened 19 March 1932
Inaugurated 19 March 1932
Statistics
Toll Time of day tolling
(southbound only)

3. The southern (CBD) end of the bridge is located at Millers
Point in The Rocks area, and the northern end at Milsons
Point in the lower North Shore area. There are six original
lanes of road traffic through the main roadway, plus an
additional two lanes of road traffic on its eastern side, using
lanes that were formerly tram tracks. Adjacent to the road
traffic, a path for pedestrian use runs along the eastern side
of the bridge, whilst a dedicated path for bicycle use only
runs along the western side. Finally, between the main
roadway and the western bicycle path are two lanes used
for railway tracks, servicing the T1 North Shore Line for
Sydney Trains.

4. The arch is composed of two
28-panel arch trusses; their
heights vary from 18 m (59
ft.) at the Centre of the arch
to 57 m (187 ft.) at the ends
next to the pylons.( At the
side the give n picture shows
the nut or screw which tights
Sydney Harbour Bridge)

5. At each end of the arch stands a
pair of 89 m (292 ft.) high
concrete pylons, faced
with granite.
(The south-eastern pylon
containing the tourist lookout,
made of granite quarried at
Moruya, NSW.)

7. EARLY PROPSAL
There had been plans to build a bridge as early as 1815,
when convict and noted architect Francis
Greenway reputedly proposed to Governor Lachlan
Macquarie that a bridge be built from the northern to the
southern shore of the harbour. In 1825, Greenway wrote a
letter to the then "The Australian" newspaper stating that
such a bridge would "give an idea of strength and
magnificence that would reflect credit and glory on the
colony and the Mother Country".

8. PLANNING
In 1914 J.J.C. Bradfield was appointed "Chief Engineer of Sydney
Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction", and his work on
the project over many years earned him the legacy as the "father" of the
bridge. Bradfield's preference at the time was for a cantilever bridge
without piers, and in 1916 the NSW Legislative Assembly passed a bill
for such a construction, however it did not proceed as the Legislative
Council rejected the legislation on the basis that the money would be
better spent on the war effort.
Following World War I, plans to build the bridge again built
momentum. Bradfield persevered with the project, fleshing out the details
of the specifications and financing for his cantilever bridge proposal, and
in 1921 he travelled overseas to investigate tenders. On return from his
travels Bradfield decided that an arch design would also be suitable and
he and officers of the NSW Department of Public Works prepared a
general design for a single-arch bridge based upon New York City's Hell
Gate Bridge. In 1922 the government passed the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Act No. 28, specifying the construction of a high-level cantilever or arch
bridge across the harbour between Dawes Point and Milsons Point,
along with construction of necessary approaches and electric railway

9. CONSTRUCTION
The building of the bridge was under
the management of Bradfield. Three
other people heavily involved in the
bridge's design and construction
were Lawrence Ennis, Edward Judge,
and Sir Ralph Freeman. Ennis was the
engineer-in-charge at Dorman Long
and Co and the main on-site
supervisor (Bradfield visited
occasionally throughout the project
and, in particular, at many key stages
of the project, to inspect progress and
make managerial decisions), Judge
was chief technical engineer of
Dorman Long, and Freeman was hired
by the company to design the
accepted model in further detail. Later
a bitter disagreement broke out
between Bradfield and Freeman as to
who actually designed the bridge.
Another name connected with the
bridge's design is that of Arthur
Plunkett.

10. OPENING
The bridge was formally
opened on Saturday, 19 March
1932. Amongst those who
attended and gave speeches
were the state Governor,
Sir Philip Game, the Minister
for Public Works, and
Lawrence Ennis.
The Labor Premier of New
South Wales, Jack Lang, was
to open the bridge by cutting a
ribbon at its southern end.

12. ROADS
From the Sydney CBD side, motor vehicle access to the bridge is
normally via Grosvenor Street, Clarence Street, Kent Street,
the Cahill Expressway, or the Western Distributor. Drivers on the
northern side will find themselves on the Warringah Freeway,
though it is easy to turn off the freeway to drive westwards
into North Sydney or eastwards to Neutral Bay and beyond upon
arrival on the northern side.
The bridge originally only had four wider traffic lanes occupying
the central space which now has six, as photos taken soon after
the opening clearly show. In 1958 tram services across the bridge
were withdrawn and the tracks replaced by two extra road lanes;
these lanes are now the leftmost southbound lanes on the bridge
and are still clearly distinguishable from the other six road lanes.
Lanes 7 and 8 now connect the bridge to the elevated Cahill
Expressway that carries traffic to the Eastern Distributor.
In 1988, work began to build a tunnel to complement the bridge. It
was determined that the bridge could no longer support the
increased traffic flow of the 1980s. The Sydney Harbour
Tunnel was completed in August 1992. It is intended for use only
by motor vehicles.

13. TIDAL FLOW
The bridge is equipped for tidal flow
peration, permitting the direction of
traffic flow on the bridge to be
altered to better suit the morning
and evening rush hours' traffic
patterns.

14. TOLL
The vehicular traffic lanes on the bridge are operated as a toll road. As
of 27 January 2009 there is a variable tolling system for all vehicles
headed into the CBD (southbound). The toll paid is dependent on the
time of day in which the vehicle passes through the toll plaza. The toll
varies from a minimum value of $2.50 to a maximum value of $4.There
is no toll for northbound traffic (though taxis travelling north may charge
passengers the toll in anticipation of the toll the taxi must pay on the
return journey). There are toll plazas at the northern and southern ends.
The two eastern lanes (which continue over the Cahill Expressway at
the southern end of the bridge) have their tollbooths at the northern
end, while the other southbound lanes (for CBD traffic) are serviced by
tollbooths at the southern end of the bridge. There is a bridge-long
median strip between lanes 6 and 7 to separate traffic which has
already paid the toll (at the northern end) from other southbound traffic
(which must pay the toll at the southern end).

15. PEDISTRIAN
The pedestrian-only footway is located
on the east side of the bridge. Access
from the northern side involves
climbing an easily spotted flight of
stairs, located on the east side of the
bridge at Broughton St, Kirribilli.
Pedestrian access on the southern
side is more complicated, but
signposts in the Rocks area now direct
pedestrians to the long and sheltered
flight of stairs that leads to the bridge's
southern end. These stairs are located
near Gloucester Street and
Cumberland Street

16. CYCLISTS
The bike only cycle way is located on the
west side of the bridge. Access from the
northern side involves carrying or pushing a
bicycle up a staircase, consisting of 55
steps, located on the west side of the bridge
at Burton St, Milsons Point. A campaign to
eliminate the steps on this popular cycling
route to the CBD has been running since at
least 2008.

17. RAIL
The bridge lies between Milsons
Point and Wynyard railway
stations, located on the north
and south shores respectively,
with two tracks running along
the western side of the bridge.
These tracks are part of
the North Shore railway line

19. 50th Anniversary
Celebrations(1982)
In 1982 the bridge celebrated the 50th
anniversary of its opening. For the first time
since its opening in 1932, the bridge was
closed to vehicles, and pedestrians were
allowed full access for the day. The
celebrations were attended by Edward Judge,
who represented Dorman Long.

20. Bicentennial Australia
Day celebrations (1988)
Australia's bicentennial celebrations on 26 January 1988
attracted large crowds in the bridge's vicinity as
merrymakers flocked to the foreshores to view the events
on the harbour. The highlight was the biggest parade of sail
ever held in Sydney, square-riggers from all over the world,
surrounded by hundreds of smaller craft of every
description, passing majestically under the Sydney Harbour
Bridge. The day's festivities culminated in a fireworks
display in which the bridge was the focal point of the finale,
with fireworks streaming from the arch and roadway. This
was to become the pattern for later firework displays

21. Sydney New Year's
Eve (1993–present)
• The Harbour Bridge is an integral
part of the Sydney New Year's Eve
celebrations, generally being used
in spectacular ways during
the fireworks displays at 9:00 P.M.
and midnight. In recent times, the
bridge has included a rope light
display on a framework in the centre
of the eastern arch, which is used to
complement the fireworks. As the
scaffolding and framework are
clearly visible for some weeks
before the event, revealing the
outline of the design, there is much
speculation as to how the effect is
to be realized.

22. Walk for Reconciliation (2000)
In May 2000 the bridge was closed to
vehicular access for a day to allow a special
reconciliation march—the "Walk for
Reconciliation"—to take place. This was part
of a response to an Aboriginal Stolen
Generations inquiry, which found
widespread suffering had taken place
amongst Australian Aboriginal children
forcibly placed into the care of white parents
in a little-published state government
scheme. Between 200,000 and 300,000
people were estimated to have walked the
bridge in a symbolic gesture of crossing a
divide.

23. Sydney 2000 Olympics
During the Sydney 2000
Olympics in September and
October 2000, the bridge was
adorned with the Olympic Rings. It
was included in the Olympic torch's
route to the Olympic stadium. The
men's and women's
Olympic marathon events likewise
included the bridge as part of their
route to the Olympic stadium. A
fireworks display at the end of the
closing ceremony ended at the
bridge. The east-facing side of the
bridge has been used several
times since as a framework from
which to hang static fireworks,
especially during the elaborate
New Year's Eve displays.

24. 75th anniversary
(2007)
In 2007, the 75th anniversary of
its opening was commemorated
with an exhibition at the Museum
of Sydney, called "Bridging
Sydney". An initiative of
the Historic Houses Trust, the
exhibition featured dramatic
photographs and paintings with
rare and previously unseen
alternative bridge and tunnel
proposals, plans and sketches.

25. Quotations

26. The "International
Historic Civil
Engineering
Landmark" plaque
presented to Sydney
Harbour Bridge by
the American
Society of Civil
Engineers in 1988.