One of the most recognizable places in Sydney and Australia as a whole is the famous Harbor Bridge bridge. It was built in the Sydney harbor during the Great Depression and is the largest bridge of Sydney and one of the largest in the world.
The Harbor-Bridge Bridge was built in 1932 in order to combine Sydney-Wilson-Punt and Davis-Point. The length of the bypass tracks between these areas is 20 kilometers, also before the construction of the bridge could be used by ferry. Both of these paths took a lot of time.
The solution of the problem of the message through the bay Port Jackson, sharing Sydney, people were engaged in the nineteenth century. Over 50 years, engineers of different countries offered 24 projects of bridges, one tunnel project was even proposed, not one of which was approved. The problem was solved by John Bradfield, Australian engineer. On the basis of his research and recommendations, in 1922 an international contest of the arched bridge was organized, the victory of which was won by the project of an engineer from London Ralph Freeman.
The construction of the bridge under the leadership of Freeman and Bradfield began in 1924 and continued for eight years. Despite the protracted international economic crisis, which lasted several years, the Australians have successfully completed the grandiose construction and received the greatest arched bridge in the world.
The length of the central span of the arched bridge is 503 meters, a width of 49 meters, and the height above sea level is 134 meters, which makes it possible even large ocean liners to take place under the Harbor bridge without hindrance.
The number of rivets for Harbor-Bridge is colossal-6 million. About 1,500 workers worked on its construction for 8 years, and about 800 residential buildings were demolished for its construction.
Eight lanes for cars, 2 railway ruts, a pedestrian sidewalk and a bicycle path-all this is located on the Harbor-Bridge bridge. Few bridges boast of such a saturation of movement and the number of modes of transport. The construction of a grand bridge took $ 20 million, modern service – 5 million annually. The board for movement on the bridge is $ 2, which allowed the bridge to pay off by 1988.