sydney harbour bridge;Report submission

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Project Name:` Sydney Harbour Bridge

Project Location:

Sydney, Australia

Owner:City traffic authority

Designer:Dr J J C Bradfield and Sir Ralph Freeman

Consultant:Ralph Freeman

Contractor:Dorman Long and Co of Middlesbrough

Starting Time:1924

Ending Time:March 1932

Project Cost:£6.25 million

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Contents

Name Page

Introduction 3

Why Sydney harbour needed a bridge 3

Planning 4

Construction 6

Pylons 8

Opening 10

Fast facts 10

Impacts 13

References 14



Introduction:

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Australia's most well known and photographed landmarks. It is the

world's largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 metres

above the harbour.

Fondly known by the locals as the 'Coathanger', the Sydney Harbour Bridge celebrated its 70th birthday

in 2002, with its official opening in March 1932

.

Why Sydney Harbour needed a bridge?

Modern-day Australians are so used to the Sydney Harbour Bridge that it is almost impossible to imagine a time when there wasn’t a bridge across the harbour, let alone a different bridge to the one we have! Before the Bridge was built, the only links between the city centre in the south and the residential areas on the northern side of the harbour were by ferry or by a 20 kilometer road route that involved five bridge crossings.

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 designfor 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 lines, and worldwide tenders were invited for

the project.

As a result of the tendering process, the government received twenty proposals from six companies; on

24 March 1924 the contract was awarded to English firm Dorman Long and Co Ltd,

of Middlesbrough well known as the contractors who built the similar Tyne Bridge of Newcastle Upon

Tyne, for an arch bridge at a quoted price of AU£4,217,721 11s 10d. The arch design was cheaper than

alternative cantilever and suspension bridge proposals, and also provided greater rigidity making it

better suited for the heavy loads expected.

To offset concerns about a foreign firm participating in the project, assurances were given by Bradfield

that the workforce building the bridge would all be Australians. Bradfield and his staff were ultimately to

oversee the entire bridge design and building process, while Dorman Long and Co's Consulting

Engineer, Sir Ralph Freeman of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, and his associate Mr. G.C. Imbault, carried

out the detailed design and erection process of the bridge. Architects for the contractors were from the

British firm John Burnet & Partners of Glasgow, Scotland.

The building of the bridge coincided with the construction of a system of underground railways in

Sydney's CBD, known today as the City Circle, and the bridge was designed with this in mind. The bridge

was designed to carry six lanes of road traffic, flanked on each side by two railway tracks and a footpath.

Both sets of rail tracks were linked into the underground Wynyard railway stationon the south (city) side



of the bridge by symmetrical ramps and tunnels. The eastern-side railway tracks were intended for use

by a planned rail link to the Northern Beaches; in the interim they were used to carry trams from the

North Shore into a terminal within Wynyard station, and when tram services were discontinued in 1958,

they were converted into extra traffic lanes. The Bradfield Highway, which is the main roadway section

of the bridge and its approaches, is named in honour of Bradfield's contribution to the bridge.

Construction

The building of the bridge was under the management of Bradfield. Three other people heavily involved

in the bridge's design and construction wereLawrence 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.

The official ceremony to mark the "turning of the first sod" occurred on 28 July 1923, on the spot at

Milsons Point on the north shore where two workshops to assist in building the bridge were to be

constructed.

An estimated 469 buildings on the north shore, both private homes and commercial operations, were

demolished to allow construction to proceed, with little or no compensation being paid. Work on the

bridge itself commenced with the construction of approaches and approach spans, and by September

1926 concrete piers to support the approach spans were in place on each side of the harbour.



Arch construction itself began on 26 October 1928. The southern

end of the bridge was worked on ahead of the northern end, to

detect any errors and to help with alignment. The cranes would

"creep" along the arches as theywere constructed, eventually

meeting up in the middle. In less than two years, on Tuesday, 19

August 1930, the two-halves of the arch touched for the first

time. Workers riveted both top and bottom sections of the arch

together, and the arch became self-supporting, allowing the support cables to be removed. On 20

August 1930 the joining of the arches was celebrated by flying the flags of Australia and the United

Kingdom (Australia being very much part of the British Commonwealth) from the jibs of the creeper

cranes.

Once the arch was completed, the creeper cranes were then worked back down the arches, allowing the

roadway and other parts of the bridge to be constructed from the centre out. The vertical hangers were

attached to the arch, and these were then joined with horizontal crossbeams. The deck for the roadway

and railway were built on top of the crossbeams, with the deck

itself being completed by June 1931, and the creeper cranes were

dismantled. Rails for trains and trams were laid, and road was

surfaced using concrete topped with asphalt. Power and

telephone lines, and water, gas, and drainage pipes were also all

added to the bridge in 1931.

The pylons were built atop the abutment towers, with

construction advancing rapidly from July 1931.Carpenters built wooden scaffolding, with concreters and

masons then setting the masonry and pouring the concrete behind it. Gangers built the steelwork in the

towers, while day labourers manually cleaned the granite with wire brushes. The last stone of the north-

west pylon was set in place on 15 January 1932, and the timber towers used to support the cranes were

removed.

On 19 January 1932, the first test train, a steam locomotive, safely crossed the bridge. Load testing of

the bridge took place in February 1932, with the four rail tracks being loaded with as many as 96 steam

locomotives positioned end-to-end. The bridge underwent testing for three weeks, after which it was

declared safe and ready to be opened. The construction work sheds were demolished after the bridge

was completed, and the land that they were on is now occupied by Luna Park.

The standards of industrial safety during construction were poor by today's standards. Sixteen workers

died during construction, but surprisingly only two from falling off the bridge. Several more were injured

from unsafe working practices undertaken whilst heating and inserting its rivets, and the deafness


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_Sydney_Harbour_-_the_bridge_is_under_construction.jpg


experienced by many of the workers in later years was blamed on the project. Henri Mallard between

1930 and 1932 produced hundreds of stills and film footage which reveal at close quarters the bravery

of the workers in tough Depression-era conditions.

The total financial cost of the bridge was AU£6.25 million, which was not paid off in full until 1988.

PylonsAt each end of the arch stands a pair of 89 m (292 ft) high concrete pylons, faced with granite. The pylons were designed by the Scottish architect Thomas S. Tait a partner in the architectural firm John Burnet &Partner.

Some 250 Australian, Scottish, and Italian stonemasons and their families relocated to a temporary settlement at Moruya, NSW, 300 km (186 mi) south of Sydney, where they quarried around 18,000 m3 (635,664 cu ft) of granite for the bridge pylons. The stonemasons cut, dressed, and numbered the blocks, which were then transported to Sydney on three ships built specifically for this purpose. The concrete used was also Australian-made.

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.[citation needed]

Francis de Groot declares the bridge open

However, just as Lang was about to cut the ribbon, a man in military uniform rode up on a horse,

slashing the ribbon with his sword and opening the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the name of the people of



New South Wales before the official ceremony began. He was promptly arrested. The ribbon was

hurriedly retied and Lang performed the official opening ceremony. After he did so, there was a 21-gun

salute and an RAAF fly-past. The intruder was identified as Francis de Groot. He was convicted of

offensive behaviour and fined £5 after a psychiatric test proved he was sane, but this verdict was

reversed on appeal. De Groot then successfully sued the Commissioner of Police for wrongful arrest, and

was awarded an undisclosed out of court settlement. De Groot was a member of a right-wing

paramilitary group called the New Guard, opposed to Lang's leftist policies and resentful of the fact that

a member of the Royal Family had not been asked to open the bridge. De Groot was not a member of

the regular army but his uniform allowed him to blend in with the real cavalry. This incident was one of

several involving Lang and the New Guard during that year.A similar ribbon-cutting ceremony on the

bridge's northern side by North Sydney's mayor, Alderman Primrose, was carried out without incident. It

was later discovered that Primrose was also a New Guard member but his role in and knowledge of the

de Groot incident, if any, are unclear. The pair of golden scissors usedin the ribbon cutting ceremonies

on both sides of the bridge was also used to cut the ribbon at the dedication of the Bayonne Bridge,

which had opened in Bayonne, New Jersey, close to New York City, the year before.

Despite the bridge opening in the midst of the Great Depression, opening celebrations were organized

by the Citizens of Sydney Organizing Committee, an influential body of prominent men and politicians

that formed in 1931 under the chairmanship of the Lord Mayor to oversee the festivities. The

celebrations included an array of decorated floats a procession of passenger ships sailing below the

bridge, and a Venetian Carnival. A message from a primary school in Tottenham, 515 km (320 mi) away

in rural New South Wales, arrived at the bridge on the day and was presented at the opening ceremony.

It had been carried all the way from Tottenham to the bridge by relays of school children, with the final

relay being run by two children from the nearby Fort Street Boys' and Girls' schools. The City of Sydney

organizing Committee also announced plans for a Great Eisteddfod. Lord Mayor Samuel Walder told the

press that the competition would begin at the Town Hall in August 1933 and thus began the Sydney

Eisteddfod.

After the official ceremonies, the public was allowed to walk across the bridge on the deck, something

that would not be repeated until the 50th anniversary celebrations. Estimates suggest that between

300,000 and one million people took part in the opening festivities, a phenomenal number given that

the entire population of Sydney at the time was only a little over a million people.

There had also been numerous preparatory arrangements. On 14 March 1932, three postage stamps

were issued to commemorate the imminent opening of the bridge. Several songs were composed for

the occasion.



The bridge itself was regarded as a triumph over Depression times, earning the nickname "the Iron

Lung", as it kept many Depression-era workers employed.

Fast FactsFourth longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world (longest is the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai (others two are Bayonne Bridge in New York and The New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia USA)

Allowance for deck expansion

420 millimeters

Base of each abutment tower

68 metres across and 48 metres long (two pylons rest on each abutment tower)

Bearing pins Each of the four pins measures 4.2 meters long and 368 millimeters in diameter

Bridge movement

The bridge can rise or fall 180mm due to heating or cooling

Clearance for shipping

49 metres

Concrete used for bridge

95,000 cubic metres

Final cost Over £10 million, more than double the original quote. Final payment for the construction loans not made until October 1988.

Granite facing used on pylons and piers

17,000 cubic metres



Height of pylons

89 metres above mean sea level

Height to top of aircraft beacon

141m above mean sea level

Height to top of arch

134m (440ft) above mean sea level

Initial contract price

£4,217,721, 11 shillings and 10 pence.

Largest rivet Weighed 3.5 kilograms and was 395 millimeters long

Longest hanger 58.8 metres

Number of panels in arch

28, each 18.28 metres wide

Number of rivets

Approximately 6,000,000

Paint required 272,000 liters per coat

Record tonnage erected

589 tons of steelwork was erected on the arch in one day on 26 November 1929

Rock excavated for foundations

122,000 cubic metres

Shortest 7.3 metres



hanger

Span of Arch 503m (1,650ft)

Thrust on bearings

Approximately 20,000 tones maximum load on each bearing

Total length of bridge

1,149 meters including approach spans

Total weight of bridge

52,800 tones including arch and mild steel approach spans

Weight of steel arch

39,000 tones

Width of deck 49 metres

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bradfield railway scheme

It was not until 1922 that the Bridge Bill passed through Parliament. Much of his work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge involved the assistance of his secretary Kathleen Muriel Butler, who (despite her job title) was involved in the checking of specifications and the negotiations with tenderers.

The building of the bridge coincided with the construction of a system of underground railways in Sydney's Central business district, known today as the City Circle, and the bridge was designed with this in mind. The bridge was designed to carry four lanes of road traffic, flanked on each side by two railway tracks and a footpath. Both sets of rail tracks were linked into the underground Wynyard railway station on the south (city) side of the bridge by symmetrical ramps and tunnels. The eastern-side railway tracks were intended for use by a planned rail link to the Northern Beaches; in the interim they were used to carry trams from the North Shore into a terminal within Wynyard station, and when tram services were discontinued in 1958,



they were converted into extra traffic lanes. The Bradfield Highway, which is the main roadway section of the bridge and its approaches, is named in honour of Bradfield's contribution to the bridge.

In 1923 the first sod was turned on the city railway. Bradfield had a grand vision for Sydney's railway system that has only been partly fulfilled. Bradfield's concept called for the construction of a network of underground city railway lines in association with the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a new rail terminal, Central. A larger network of lines was proposed for the western, eastern and southern suburbs however most of these lines remained concepts only and have never been constructed. The Depression, and later World War II, along with the growth of the motor car led to passenger numbers in Bradfield's plan being grossly overestimated. Parts of the city underground were constructed and exist as the present-day City Circle, with small sections built for the additional proposed city lines such as additional platforms at Wynyard and St James railway stations which have never been used for heavy rail transport. The underground city loop was constructed originally as a stub line to St James, and the line through Town Hall and Wynyard to the Harbour Bridge. It was not until 1955 that the loop was completed by the construction of Circular Quay station. A line to the eastern suburbs was eventually built, but along a different alignment to that envisaged by Bradfield, who proposed a line along Oxford Street.

Bradfield retired from the New South Wales Department of Public Works at the end of July 1933 after 42 years of service with the intention of continuing to work as a consulting engineer.

Sydney Harbour Bridge is not the longest span steel arch bridge in the world, but it is the widest and heaviest.

ImpactAll engineering projects have some impact on the environment and the people living around the project. For Sydney as a whole, the Bridge helped to open up the northern side of the harbour and allowed the city to expand north.

However the approaches to the Bridge cut a swathe through fashionable housing on the ridge above the Rocks with the many demolitions including Dawes Point battery. The battery had been commenced in 1791 to defend Sydney Town and was upgraded several times until 1850. In 1819 Governor Macquarie had engaged Francis Greenway to design fort buildings that would appear as a castle to ships entering the harbour.

However to achieve this, parts of the Rocks had to be demolished as did the Dawes Pt battery, which was designed by Francis Greenway.The Sydney Harbour Bridge would have improved safety, because, prior to its opening, there were 75 ferries per hour between the north and south sides of the harbour. The bridge would have replaced much of this traffic and heightened safety for commuters.

In terms of morale the Bridge’s value is immeasurable. Built during the Great Depression, it was the lifeblood of the floundering NSW economy. It was not the first large engineering venture in



Australia, but it certainly was one of the most recognized and it showed Sydney, like other great cities around the world, could build a large bridge that symbolically was so much more than a road/rail link north.

References www.kenday.id.au

www.wikipedia.org

Comments

Sydney bridge has very much importance in society, thousands of vehicles pass over this bridge.


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