After the spans were constructed the work began on the hardest and most vital part of the bridge, the main arch. Two half-arches were built out progressively from each shore, each held back by 128 thick cables anchored underground through U-shaped tunnels. Steel members were fabricated in the workshops, placed onto barges, towed into position on the water out from the harbour and lifted up by two 580 tonne loads of electrically operated ‘creeper cranes’, which erected the half-arches before them as they travelled forward.
Joining of the Arches
On the 19th of August 1930 the arch of the bridge was successfully joined at 10pm at night. The steel decking was then hung from the arch and was all in place within nine months, being built from the centre outwards to save time moving the cranes.
As the project neared completion, the last of (approximately) six million Australian made and hand driven rivets were pushed through the deck on 21 January 1932. In February 1932 the Bridge was test loaded using up to 96 steam locomotives placed in various configurations.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, which is now known by typical residents as the "Coat Hanger",was built by 1400 workers, 16 of whom were killed in accidents during construction. The surface area of this huge bridge is that of 60 sport fields and requires approximately 80,000 litres (21,000 gallons) of paint (which is required for each coat!). Before Paul Hogan (from the movie Crocodile Dundee) became famous, he worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a painter.
The deck is 59 metres (194 feet) and was officially opened on 19 March 1932. The total cost of the Bridge was approximately 6.25 million Australian pounds ($A13.5 million), and was eventually paid off in 1988 by a plan of using what is known as toll charge. The initial toll for a car was 6 pence (in our time 5 cents) and a horse and rider was 3 pence (2 cents). Today the toll costs $3.00. The toll is now used for bridge maintenance and to pay for the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. The annual maintenance costs are approximately $5 million. More than 150,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day.
Opening Celebrations
The official opening day on Saturday 19 March 1932 was a momentous occasion, drawing remarkable crowds (estimated between 300,000 and one million people) to the city and around the harbour foreshores. The NSW Premier, the Hon. John T. Lang, officially declared the Bridge open. However, before Premier Jack Lang arrived to cut the ribbon, there was a sudden commotion as Captain Francis de Groot rode forward on his horse. He was an active member of the New Guard, a strongly pro-monarchy political party, and believed that the bridge should be opened by a member of the Royal Family (or at least the Governor General, the King’s representative in Australia).
Slashing through the ribbon with his sword, de Groot declared the bridge open in the name of “the decent and respectable people of New South Wales”.
De Groot was promptly arrested and removed from the scene, later to be fined five pounds and charged with offensive behaviour in a public place. Meanwhile the ribbon was tied together again, and the ceremony went ahead.
The opening celebrations included a vast cavalcade of decorated floats, marching groups and bands proceeding through the city streets and across the deck in a pageant of surprising size and quality, considering the economic depression.
The celebrations continued with a gun-salute, a procession of passenger ships under the Bridge, a 'venetian' carnival, a fly-past, fireworks, sports carnivals and exhibitions. After the pageant the public was allowed to walk across the deck…an event not repeated until the 50th anniversary of the Bridge in 1982.
Now the Sydney Harbour Bridge links Sydney's two major commercial centres (other being the opera house) and forms a daily transpoint for millions. It is a living landmark, a tourist experience and an essential transport line for Sydney siders or residents.
It is a cultural landscape that people actively experience through driving, walking, sailing, flying, cycling, ferry and train commuting, as well as passively observe – from the foreshores, from a distance, as a distinctive landmark – or examine in detail as a marvel of engineering technology.
“For such a familiar icon, the extent of the bridges cultural significance is amazingly obscure to locals; its accessibility is too often frustratingly mysterious to visitors, yet this is a site that has been included in a nomination for World Heritage listing with the Sydney Opera House in its harbour setting (1996).” Road Authority- my qoute
Length of arch span 503 metres
Height of top of arch 134 metres above mean sea level
Height to top of aircraft beacon 141 metres above mean sea level
Width of deck 49 metres
Clearance for shipping 49 metres
Height of pylons 89 metres above mean sea level
Base of each abutment tower 68 metres across and 48 metres long
(two pylons rest on each abutment tower)
Total length of bridge 1149 metres including approach spans
Bearing pins Each of the four pins measures 4.2 metres long
and 368 millimetres in diameter
Thrust on bearings Under maximum load approximately 20,000 tonnes
on each bearing
Number of rivets Approximately 6,000,000
Largest rivet Weighed 3.5 kilograms and was 395 millimetres long
Longest hanger 58.8 metres
Shortest hanger 7.3 metres
Total weight of steelwork 52,800 tonnes including arch and mild steel approach spans
Weight of arch 39,000 tonnes
Rock excavated for foundations 122,000 cubic metres
Concrete used for bridge 95,000 cubic metres
Granite facing used on pylons and piers 17,000 cubic metres
Allowance for deck expansion 420 millimetres
Allowance for arch expansion The arch may rise or fall 18 centimetres due to heating or cooling
Number of panels in arch 28, each 18.28 metres wide
Record tonnage erected 589 tonnes of steelwork was erected on the arch in one day on 26 November 1929
Paint required 272,000 litres of paint were required to give the Bridge its initial three coats
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