The Anzac Bridge is an eight-lane

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

that carries the Western Distributor (A4) across Johnstons Bay between Pyrmont and Glebe Island (part of the suburb of Rozelle), on the western fringe of the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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 forms part of the road network leading from the central business district, the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

, and Cross City Tunnel to the

Inner West The Inner West of Sydney is an area directly west of the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. The suburbs that make up the Inner West are predominantly located along the southern shore of Port Jackson (Parramatta River) ...

and Northern Suburbs.

History

Glebe Island bridges

There were two bridges over Johnstons Bay before the construction of the Anzac Bridge. The first bridge was constructed as part of a project to move the

abattoir In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat ...

s out of central Sydney, and to construct public abattoirs at Glebe Island. The first pile of the original bridge was driven in October 1860. The bridge was opened in 1862 and was a timber beam bridge long and wide with a swing section on the eastern side. It replaced a double steam punt crossing. The second Glebe Island Bridge was an electrically operated

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

opened in 1903, the year after the opening of the new Pyrmont Bridge over Sydney's

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour and neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central busines ...

, which has a similar design. The bridge was designed by Percy Allan of the New South Wales Public Works Department who also designed the Pyrmont Bridge. Delays due to increasing traffic, which were exacerbated by having to close a major arterial road to allow the movement of shipping into Blackwattle Bay, led to the construction of the present-day Anzac Bridge. The 1903 bridge is still standing, but there is no access to pedestrians or vehicular traffic.

Anzac Bridge

The stay cable design concept development and final design for the new bridge were carried out by a team from the

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

, led by their Chief Bridge Engineer Ray Wedgwood and the construction by Baulderstone. The bridge was opened to traffic on 3 December 1995 as the Glebe Island Bridge. The bridge was given its current name on

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...

in 1998 to honour the memory of the soldiers of the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a First World War army corps of the British Empire under the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the ...

(known as Anzacs) who served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. An

Australian Flag The national flag of Australia is based on the British Blue Ensign—a blue field with the Union Jack in the upper hoist quarter—augmented with a large white seven-pointed star (the Commonwealth Star) and a representation of the Southern C ...

flies atop the eastern pylon and a New Zealand Flag flies atop the western pylon. A bronze memorial statue of an Australian Anzac soldier ("digger") holding a

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifle in the "rest on arms reverse" drill position was placed on the western end of the bridge on

Anzac Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

in 2000. A statue of a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

soldier was added to a plinth across the road from the Australian Digger, facing towards the east, and was unveiled by

Prime Minister of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand () is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Christopher Luxon, leader of the New Zealand National Party, took office on 27 November 2023. The prime minister (informally abbreviated to P ...

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

in the presence of

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales actin ...

Morris Iemma on Sunday 27 April 2008.

Description

The bridge is wide and the main span is long. The reinforced concrete pylons are high and support the deck by two planes of stay cables. Initially the stay cables were plagued by vibrations which have since been resolved by the addition of thin stabilising cables between the stay cables. There is a

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

shared

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

and cycleway located on the northern side of the bridge, making possible a walk from Glebe Point Road, down Bridge Road, over the bridge and round Blackwattle Bay back to Glebe Point Road. The bridge can carry a maximum of 180,000 cars per day. It reached its maximum capacity in 2002, only seven years after it was finished and consistent with the principles of

induced demand In economics, induced demand – related to latent demand and generated demandSchneider, Benjamin (September 6, 2018"CityLab University: Induced Demand"'' CityLab'' – is the phenomenon whereby an increase in supply results in a decline ...

of traffic. The bridge is regularly patrolled by security guards as a counter-

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

attack measure. Security cameras also monitor the walkway. The bridge has a speed limit of : it was reduced from in January 2005. Also prior to that date, the bridge had seven traffic lanes (4 eastbound, 3 westbound). Originally, there were bus stops at the western end of the bridge, but they were removed because buses pulling out from the stops created a hazard as they merged with other traffic moving at (or close to) the speed limit. The Australian Anzac statue on the northern side of the bridge is adjacent to the former city-bound bus stop; the New Zealand Anzac statue was installed within the ramp area of the former stop on the southern side.

Use in popular culture

The bridge has been used in a number of artistic works including: * The bridge was used in the ''Looking for Alibrandi'' (1999) movie scene where the title character, Josephine Alibrandi, and her date Jacob Coote rode across the bridge on Jacob's motorcycle. * Deni Hines' song " It's Alright" (1995) features the nearly completed bridge in the music video group dance sequences, the filming of which taking place a few months before the bridge's December 1995 opening. * You Am I's song " Purple Sneakers" from the band's album '' Hi Fi Way'' (1995) opens with the lyric "''Had a scratch only you could itch, underneath the Glebe Point bridge''". The Glebe Island Bridge was still under construction when Tim Rogers wrote and recorded the song in 1994, with the bridge's name change to 'Anzac Bridge' not occurring until 1998.

Gallery

Atop the anzac bridge.jpg, Anzac Bridge pylons and cables Anzac Bridge East.jpg, Anzac Bridge at dusk. ANZAC Bridge at Night.jpg, ANZAC Bridge at night from Glebe Point. Sydney 02 11 2008.JPG, Aerial view of Sydney Harbour from the west in 2008. Anzac Bridge is visible at lower centre right, while the disused (second) Glebe Island Bridge is visible immediately to its left. Anzac bridge cable2.JPG, The Bridge's stay cables were initially plagued by vibrations, since resolved by the addition of thin stabilizing cables (pictured) between the much larger stay cables. Image:SAM_0746.JPG, The Australian Anzac statue on the north-western side of the bridge. Anzac bridge top.JPG, Stay cables attachment at the top of the pylon. Glebe island bridge.JPG, The disused (second) Glebe Island Bridge viewed from water level, with the deck of Anzac Bridge visible above. ANZAC Bridge Eastern Side.jpg, The eastern end, with CBD view in background Anzac Bridge with planes on approach to SYD.jpg, View from Barangaroo Reserve

References

External links

Description and history (with construction photos) of the Anzac Bridge, Sydney
* CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA/nowiki> {{DEFAULTSORT:Anzac Bridge Bridges completed in 1862 Bridges completed in 1903 Bridges completed in 1995 Bridges in Sydney Cable-stayed bridges in Australia Road bridges in New South Wales 1995 establishments in Australia ANZAC (Australia) 1862 establishments in Australia Rozelle, New South Wales Pyrmont, New South Wales