Alfords Point Bridge is a twin concrete and steel box girder

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

that carries Alford Point Road as state route A6 across the lower

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_ ...

between

Padstow Heights Padstow Heights, a suburb of local government area City of Canterbury-Bankstown, located 23 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is a part of the South-western Sydney re ...

in the

City of Bankstown The City of Bankstown was a local government area in the south-west region of Sydney, Australia, centred on the suburb of Bankstown, from 1895 to 2016. The last Mayor of the City of Bankstown Council was Clr Khal Asfour, a member of the Labor ...

and

Alfords Point Alfords Point is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Alfords Point is 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, within the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. Alfords Point sha ...

in the

Sutherland Shire Sutherland Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area in the Southern Sydney, southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated pop ...

in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The first bridge opened on 7 September 1973. Although the deck was built wide enough to accommodate three lanes of traffic, it carried one lane of traffic in each direction. In 1980 the lane arrangements on the bridge were changed to provide a third lane, and a tidal-flow traffic management system was introduced, with two lanes northbound in the morning and two lanes southbound in the evenings. When the first bridge was built, a second set of piles and abutments was built a few metres downstream, allowing for future duplication. The second bridge was opened for southbound traffic on 22 August 2008, leaving the first bridge for northbound use only.

Description

There are two other road crossings over Georges River downstream of the Alfords Point Bridge: the Captain Cook Bridge, which opened in 1965 and the

Tom Uglys Bridge Tom Uglys Bridge are two road bridges, completed in 1929 and 1987, that carry the Princes Highway across the Georges River in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The bridges link the St George area at Blakehurst to th ...

, which opened in 1929. Captain Cook Bridge connects Sans Souci to Taren Point. Tom Uglys Bridge connects Blakehurst to Sylvania.

History

The bridge was built as the last link in the Hornsby-Heathcote county road (although a number of route realignments followed), and serves a metropolitan function. Construction of the bridge allowed the decommissioning (in 1976) of Lugarno ferry, which had operated since 1843 on Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell's line of the Illawarra Road. The ferry had operated between

Lugarno Lugarno is a suburb in the St George area of southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the local government area of the Georges River Council, 23 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. Si ...

and

Illawong Illawong is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Illawong is located 27 kilometres south of the Sydney Central Business District, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire in the area commonly c ...

.Alfords Point Bridge"
,

Roads & Traffic Authority The Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA) was an Statutory authority, agency of the Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government responsible for major road infrastructure, licensing of drivers, and registration of motor vehicles. The ...

Accessed 26 September 2006

References

{{Road infrastructure in Sydney Bridges in Sydney Bridges completed in 1973 Concrete bridges in Australia Road bridges in New South Wales Sutherland Shire Georges River Council City of Canterbury-Bankstown Georges River

Description

History

See also

References