Roseville Bridge
The Roseville Bridge, is a pre-stressed concrete box girder road bridge that carries Warringah Road, part of the A38 across Middle Harbour, located adjacent to the suburb of Roseville, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge is one of two crossings of Middle Harbour, the other being the Spit Bridge.
Roseville Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Early evening traffic on Roseville Bridge, looking south-west | |
| Coordinates | 33°46′23″S 151°12′13″E |
| Carries | Warringah Road 
|
| Crosses | Middle Harbour |
| Locale | Roseville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Begins | Roseville (south) |
| Ends | Frenchs Forest (north) |
| Maintained by | NSW Roads & Maritime Services |
| Followed by | Spit Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Box girder |
| Material | Pre-stressed concrete |
| Total length | 377 metres (1,237 ft) |
| Clearance above | 17.4 metres (57 ft) |
| No. of lanes | 6: 3 northbound; 3 southbound |
| History | |
| Construction cost | A$4.4 million |
| Opened | 2 April 1966 by Robert Askin, NSW Premier |
| Replaces | Old Roseville Bridge (1924-1974) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 65,000 (2016) |
| Location | |
| |
| References | |
| [1][2][3][4] | |
Current bridge
The suburbs east of Middle Harbour grew rapidly in the years following the opening of the inaugural Roseville Bridge. On 2 April 1966[2] the Liberal Premier Robin Askin, the Member for Collaroy at the time, later the Member for Pittwater, opened the current six-lane, high-level bridge. Along with the bridge, a significant upgrade of the approach roads was completed, which became the six-lane Warringah Road. This upgraded section of road is approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long.
Built at a cost of A$4.4 million,[4] the bridge is 377 metres (1,237 ft) long[1] has a clearance of 17.4 metres (57 ft) from the water below. However, the adjacent Pipe Bridge has a clearance of only 11 metres (36 ft). This limitation, combined with only 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) depth of water, make it out of reach for most cruising vessels.
Today Roseville Bridge is part of a major thoroughfare from the Pacific Highway at Roseville to the Northern Beaches and suburbs east of Middle Harbour. Due to the halt of the construction of the Warringah Expressway across Middle Harbour to Wakehurst Parkway and the Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation, which is the only part of the Warringah Expressway built on the Northern Beaches by the Labor Wran government, there are today only two other major roads to these areas: Mona Vale Road, and Spit Road which crosses Middle Harbour downstream from Roseville Bridge using the Spit Bridge.
The road carries three lanes of traffic towards Roseville, and three lanes of traffic towards Frenchs Forest. A grade-separated shared pedestrian footpath and cycleway is located on the western side of the bridge.
Former Roseville Bridge, 1924-1974
Old Roseville Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°46′27″S 151°12′19″E |
| Carries |
|
| Crosses | Middle Harbour |
| Locale | Roseville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Followed by | Roseville Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Low-level bridge |
| Material | Concrete |
| Total length | 240 feet (73 m) |
| Longest span | 40 feet (12 m) |
| No. of spans | 6 |
| Piers in water | 5 |
| No. of lanes | 2 |
| History | |
| Designer | R. S. Morris |
| Constructed by | John Howie and Sons |
| Construction cost | A£8548 |
| Opened | 20 September 1924 |
| Collapsed | 1974 |
| Closed | 1966 |
| Replaces | Ferry |
| Replaced by | Roseville Bridge (since 1966) |
| References | |
| [5][2]:82 | |
An original bridge across Middle Harbour at Roseville was built jointly by the Willoughby, Ku-ring-gai and Warringah councils; with fifty percent of the funding provided by the NSW Government. It was built of reinforced concrete by unemployed returned servicemen and opened on 20 September 1924. It was claimed to be the longest bridge of that type in NSW although the bridge across the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond was longer. It was claimed to be the first bridge supported on reinforced concrete piles.[2] This low-level two-lane bridge was located downstream of the current bridge, and connected Babbage Road to what is today called Healey Way, which is the entrance to Davidson Park within Garigal National Park.[1][6] The first bridge replaced an earlier ferry service consisting of rowing boats across the narrowest section of water.[7]
The 1924 bridge survived the opening of the new bridge, and provided pedestrian access only, until it was demolished in 1974,[7] along with Roseville Baths. Almost nothing remains from these structures.
References
- Morcombe, John (20 April 2014). "Roseville Bridge the first to link the peninsula with the rest of Sydney". Manly Daily. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- Kass, Terry (February 2006). "RTA Thematic History: A component of the RTA Heritage and Conservation Register" (PDF). NSW Roads & Maritime Services (PDF) (2nd ed.). Government of New South Wales. pp. 24, 90. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- "Average Daily Traffic Volumes" (PDF). NSW Roads & Maritime Services (PDF). Government of New South Wales. 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- "Roseville Bridge stands the test of time, celebrating 50 years". North Shore Times. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- "Beneath Roseville Bridge". Living Local Guide. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- Bridges - land and water. NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service (Information display at the Davidson Park). Davidson: Government of New South Wales.
- "The old Roseville Bridge". Powerhouse Museum. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
