The Macleay Valley Bridge is a

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

over the

Macleay River The Macleay River is a river that spans the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Formed by the confluence of the Gara River, Salisbury Waters and Bakers Creek, the Macleay River ...

and its

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

near the settlement of Frederickton, New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The bridge is part of the Pacific Highway (A1) new alignment which bypasses Kempsey and Frederickton. At the time of its official opening in 2013, the bridge was the longest road bridge in Australia.

Description

The bridge is constructed of 941 concrete beams supported by 93 piers. Installation of all support beams was completed in October 2012. On 24 February 2013 the bridge was opened to visitors for a preview walk, and then to traffic on 27 March 2013 following an official opening by

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

, the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. The bridge carries four lanes of traffic, part of a stretch of divided highway; two lanes in each direction, each lane wide. The bridge was constructed by

Abigroup Abigroup was an Australian construction company. History Abigroup was established as Graham Evans & Co in 1957 as a civil engineering company within New South Wales, being renamed Abignano in 1961. In 1981 it was listed on the Australian Securit ...

as part of the 618 million Kempsey Bypass project funded by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

from the Building Australia Fund; within this budget, the bridge itself cost $185 million.

Bridge name

Following completion of the bridge,

Roads & Maritime Services A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The wo ...

invited the local community to suggest a name for the new bridge. The names Macleay River Bridge or the Macleay River and Floodplain Bridge were to be selected if there was no clear preference. Approximately 70 names were suggested which recognised the history of the area, local people, and the community. In February 2013 the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

Dangghati people requested to name the bridge in the local

Dhanggati language Dhanggati (Dunghutti, Thangatti), previously known as Dyangadi (Djangadi), is the Australian Aboriginal language once spoken by the Djangadi of the Macleay Valley and surrounding high country of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales. Th ...

''Yapang gurraarrbang gayandugayigu'', translated to English to mean a ''very long track to the other side''. The group's submission received the support of the Macleay Coast Tourism Association and the

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon, referred to universally as Australia's Ki ...

Centre. The bridge was officially named the ''Macleay Valley Bridge'' on 1 December 2015; it has also been given the secondary name of ''Yapang gurraarrbang gayanddugayigu'' (or long track to the other side) underneath the main name.

References

External links

Kempsey Upgrade at RTA website

Kempsey Upgrade Map
* 2013 establishments in Australia Beam bridges in Australia Bridges completed in 2013 Concrete bridges in Australia Girder bridges in Australia Mid North Coast Pacific Highway (Australia) Road bridges in New South Wales Viaducts in Australia {{NewSouthWales-struct-stub

Description

Bridge name

See also

References

External links