10 best bridges to see in Sydney

10 best bridges to see in Sydney

Image: Pixabay

Sydney. The capital of the country down under. The country might be synonymous with kangaroos, harbors, and the Sydney Opera House, but the country has amazing architecture. 

Several rivers run through the city of Sidney, the Parramatta River is the common one and most bridges cross it at several points. The bridges in the capital of Sydney are beautiful!

1. Sydney Harbor Bridge 

Image: Pixabay

This magnificent bridge connects the Sydney central business district to the North Shore. The bridge is a beautiful work of art, constructed for eight years and was opened by Premier Jack Lang in 1932.

The bridge is the world’s tallest steel arch bridge standing at 134 meters from the surface of the water, and the 6th longest spanning arch bridge in the world. There are eight vehicle lanes, a footpath, a cycleway, and two train lines. There is a toll of $3 per car and people can access the southeast pylon using the pedestrian walkway and the beautiful Sidney Opera House is also visible from the bridge. On both ends of the arch are two 89-meter-high pylons made of concrete and granite blocks that were transported from Moruya. 

 The design of the bridge was inspired by the Hell Gate Bridge in New York. They say that the reason behind the grey color is that the only available color of paint that was enough to paint the bridge was grey! I mean, the bridge consumed over 229,000 liters of paint!

2. Pyrmont Bridge 

This bridge is one of the oldest surviving electrically operated swing bridges in the world; it is 369 meters long. The original bridge was started its operations in 1857 and was replaced by the current one which has been in use since 1902. The bridge can only open for vessels that are more than seven meters high and have been opened more than 600,000 times since it was opened. It takes one minute to completely open up the bridge to the 83 degrees it is supposed to be. 

There are several attractions near the Pyrmont Bridge; the Sydney Lyric Theatre, the Australian National Maritime Museum, Cockle Bay Wharf, the James Craig Tall Ship, and of course, the Darling Harbor.

3. Anzac Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

This is a very beautiful bridge. The Anzac bridge was opened and allowed vehicles and people to pass in December 1995. It was renamed to Anzac Bridge in commemoration of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC); from its original name Glebe Island Bridge. The bridge was designed by Percy Allan and the length of the deck was 805 meters; during its opening, it could allow two ships going both directions, to pass through at the same time. 

Since there is a walkway, people can take strolls at sunrise or sunset on the bridge starting at the Glebe Point Road through bridge Road and back. 

4. Fig Tree Bridge 

The Fig Tree Bridge carries vehicles, has a footpath and has a cycleway, and connects the suburbs of Hunters Hill to the South and Linley Point in the North. The original Gig Tree bridge which had been in operation since 1885 was a swing bridge and the current bridge is located directly adjacent to it. The construction of the current bridge ended in September 1963, has a girder bridge design, and is made mainly of concrete. 

5. Tom Uglys Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia

For more than 70 years, Tom Uglys Bridge has been an important part of Sydney, and not only because it is big in transport, but because of the history attached to it! The bridge plays a big role in the economic and commercial aspect of Australia since more than 1,000 cars use the bridge daily, there are plaques in the bridge, one of them reads ‘construction of the bridge was financed by the Australian Government as part of a nationwide road development program to celebrate Australia’s bicentenary in 1988’

The name is believed to have been that of Tom Huxley, a resident of the area and since the locals had a problem pronouncing the name Huxley, he assumed the name Uglys, so he was not ugly!

6. Captain Cook Bridge 

The Captain Cook Bridge crosses the Georges River in southern Sidney, and one of the three major crossings of the river, and crosses at the mouth of the river into Botany Bay. The bridge was opened in 1965 and is named after Captain James Cook, who landed there in his ship after navigating around Australia. The bridge has three car lanes on each side and walkways on both parts as well. 

 7. Parramatta River Railway Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia

The Parramatta River Railway Bridge was built in 1886 and was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1999! The bridge, which is now a cycleway, was initially a railway bridge. The bridge is 500 meters long, was designed by John Whitton, who designed 12 similar bridges. This particular one is the longest of all of them. The bridge was constructed using wrought iron links Homebush Bay to Ryde District, most of the materials used in the construction of the bridge were shipped from England.

8. Gladesville Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The arch-shaped Gladesville Bridge was opened in 1964 and goes over the Parramatta River in Sydney, it joins Gladesville and Drummoyne and is part of Victoria Road. The first bridge was commissioned in 1888, and it was meant to help people to access their farms and markets. Before that, ferries were used for that purpose. During its construction, the bridge was the first major concrete arch bridge in the world which was constructed using precast segments and also one of the first designed using the help of a computer! This bridge is the most complex of the three bridges; the Fig Tree Bridge and Tarban Creek Bridge. This magnificent bridge was among the first of its kind, incorporating new and untried designs and is still very breathtaking!

9. The Lennox Bridge- Parramatta 

Construction for the Lennox Bridge began in 1836 and was completed in 1839; designed and built under David Lennox’s supervision, the superintendent of bridges. He built two other bridges and more than a century later, his work is still beautiful. The original bridge was extremely beautiful and even though restorations were made in 1976, very few modifications were done and so the bridge has retained most of its remarkable features. The bridge is only 37 meters long and 30 feet high, but it has withstood the test of time and has been an important part of Sydney. 

It was is the oldest bridge on the Australian mainland and is also the third-oldest surviving bridge in New South Wales; it carries the Church Street of Parramatta’s central business district. 

10. Sea Cliff Bridge 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The beauty of this bridge is! The views are fascinating! The Lawrence Hargrave Drive Bridge and the Sea Cliff Bridge carry the amazingly breathtaking Lawrence Hargrave Drive along the Illawarra escarpment. The bridge braces against The Pacific Ocean so not only do people get an amazing view of the rocky escarpment, it also offers amazing views of the ocean! The 48KM bridge was opened in 2005 and has become a great tourist attraction in Sydney. The road that curved alongside the cliff face was extremely dangerous and therefore the bridge was constructed. 

People can also get out of their cars and take a relaxing 15-minute stroll on the steep incline from the train station to the bridge.

11-year-old Makenzie Russell gave the name to the bridge after she won a competition for primary school students to name the bridge!