Brooklyn Bridge (Sydney)


The Brooklyn Bridge is a concrete girder bridge that carries the Pacific Motorway across the Hawkesbury River between to Point, located north of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The bridge comprises a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction of motorway grade-separated conditions.
The adjacent Peats Ferry Bridge carries the Pacific Highway across the Hawkesbury River in a single carriageway with one lane in each direction in state highway conditions. The Peats Ferry Bridge permits the carriage of pedestrian and bicycles; not permitted on the Brooklyn Bridge. Both bridges are maintained by NSW Roads & Maritime Services.

History

This bridge was built to connect the sections of the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway immediately north and south of the Hawkesbury River. The section north of the river as far as was opened in December 1965, and the adjacent freeway section south of the river was opened as far south as in December 1968. Between 1968 and 1973 freeway traffic was required to rejoin the Pacific Highway in either direction and use the Peats Ferry Bridge to cross the river.
It was opened in two stages. The three northbound lanes were opened to traffic in August 1973, and the resulting changes to traffic arrangements allowed the approaches at either end of the three southbound lanes to be completed in October 1973, to bring the full width of the bridge into use.

Description

The bridge is founded on rock at up to below water level and the deck is on a falling gradient from above water level at the southern bank to at the northern bank. The bridge is long, and was the first bridge in the world to be built of open steel trough girders.