Sydney
Harbour Bridge is one of the major landmarks
of Sydney, connecting the Sydney central
business district (CBD) with the North
Shore commercial and residential areas,
both of which are located on Sydney Harbour.
The dramatic water vista of the bridge
together with the nearby Sydney Opera
House is an iconic image of both Sydney
and Australia. The bridge is colloquially
referred to as "the Coathanger"
because of its arch-based design, although
this usage is less prevalent than it once
was. The bridge was the city's tallest
structure until 1967. According to Guinness
World Records, it is the widest long-span
bridge in the world. It is the world's
largest single-arch bridge, but not the
longest (as millions of Australian school
children were erroneously taught). The
Bayonne Bridge in the United States, opened
four months earlier on 15 November 1931,
is just 70 cm (2.3 feet) longer.
The
design bears a marked resemblance to that
of the New York Hell Gate Bridge. Its
design was later used as a basis for the
Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge deck, from an
RTA camera looking south. Note the different
road surface on the two easternmost lanes
that replaced the eastern tram tracks.The
bridge's two ends are located at Dawes
Point (in Sydney's Rocks area) and Milsons
Point (in Sydney's lower North Shore area).
It carries six lanes of road traffic on
its main roadway, two lanes of road traffic
(formerly two tram tracks) and a footpath
on its eastern side, and two railway tracks
and a bicycle path along its western side.
The Dawes Point pylonThe road across the
bridge is known as the Bradfield Highway
and is about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) long,
making it one of the shortest highways
in Australia.
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