Gladesville Bridge Marina

Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hill, in New South Wales, Australia.

Despite its name, the bridge is not in Gladesville. The Gladesville Bridge is a few kilometres upstream of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. When it was completed in 1964, Gladesville Bridge was the longest single span concrete arch ever constructed. Gladesville Bridge is the largest of a complex of three bridges, including Fig Tree Bridge and Tarban Creek Bridge, designed to carry traffic as part of the North Western Expressway. The bridge was the first phase of this freeway project that was to connect traffic from the Newcastle via Wahroonga/Lane Cove, then through Glebe/Annandale to connect into the city. Due to community action the freeway project was abandoned by the Wran Government in 1977, leaving the Gladesville Bridge connecting the existing arterial roads.The Gladesville Bridge was designed by Anthony Gee, G. Maunsell & Partners and Eugène Freyssinet and built from 1959 to 1964 by Reed & Mallik (Engineers, England) and Stuart Bros (Builders, Sydney). The property is owned by Transport for NSW. The bridge was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 October 2014.

Europeans first settled in the Gladesville/Drummoyne area of Sydney soon after landfall at Sydney Cove. In the 1790s, Crown grants of 12-hectare (30-acre) lots were made available in the vicinity of Gladesville to encourage agricultural pursuits in the area. The future suburb of Gladesville remained isolated and rural until the 1850s when the earlier land grants were subdivided into large urban building blocks for the development of 'gentlemen's residences' for the wealthier colonists of NSW.

The Gladesville Bridge connects the suburbs of Gladesville (located on the northern bank of the Parramatta River) and Drummoyne (located on its southern and eastern sides). Gladesville Bridge is a four-box pre-stressed concrete arch with a span of 305 metres (1,000 ft). Its total length (including approaches) is 579.4 metres (1,901 ft). The roadway across the bridge is includes seven roadway lanes with pathway on either side.The arch of the bridge is supported by concrete thrust blocks embedded into sandstone foundations on either side of Parramatta River. The bridge was constructed as four arches, each made from precast concrete box sections. Each rib of blocks was erected on a falsework system supported on piles. When the four arches were in place, they were stressed together (using the Freyssinet stressing system) by transverse cables passing through diaphragms.On completion of the arch, the piers (stressed vertically using the Lee McCall system) were constructed on both the arch and approaches. These supported the deck which is a waffle construction of eight longitudinal pre-cast and pre-stressed "T" beams with four intermediate cast-in-place transverse beams per span, and with cast in place fillers between the "T" beams. At its northern end, the deck flares out from its six lanes to accommodate the diverging traffic lanes feeding both Victoria Road and Burns Bay Road.Gladesville Bridge is the furthest east (downstream) of the crossings on Parramatta River. A short distance further east, Parramatta River enters Port Jackson, and the next crossing on Port Jackson is Sydney Harbour Bridge.

As at 19 December 2013, Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, being 305 metres (1,000 ft). One of only two of its type in NSW, Gladesville Bridge is considered to be a leading example of technical and engineering achievement on the international stage. An innovative design that set new global standards for design and construction, Gladesville Bridge was one of the first bridges in the world (if not, the first) to utilise computer programming in its construction. With particular social significance and an important association with a number of internationally acclaimed engineers and engineering firms (including G. Maunsell & Partners and Eugene Freyssinet), Gladesville Bridge is one of the landmark engineering achievements of the world. Gladesville Bridge was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 October 2014 having satisfied the following criteria.The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964 (at 1000 feet, this record was held for 15 years until 1980). Considered to be a leading example of technical and engineering achievement, the Gladesville Bridge was an innovative design that set new standards for design and construction on the international stage. One of the landmark engineering achievements of the world, Gladesville Bridge was one of the first bridges in the world (if not, the first) to utilise computer programming in its construction.The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its association with a number of internationally acclaimed engineers and engineering firms. Designed by English firm G. Maunsell & Partners, the vision of the new Gladesville Bridge being a concrete arch bridge, rather than a more standard steel truss bridge, is attributed to Guy Maunsell. Maunsell was a revered British engineer and early developer of pre-stressed concrete. In the mid-20th century, at the time of the construction of Gladesville Bridge, G. Maunsell & Partners were applying their creative methods to building iconic bridges across the world. Gladesville Bridge is also associated with the celebrated French engineer, Eugene Freyssinet who reviewed the innovative and unprecedented design. A pioneer in using pre-stressed concrete in bridge construction, Freyssinet's contribution to the design of Gladesville Bridge was among the last works of his life.The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its aesthetic and technical significance. Upon its construction in 1964, Gladesville Bridge was the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world and its innovative design set new standards for design and construction on the international stage. An internationally leading example of technical and engineering achievement, Gladesville Bridge was considered to be one of the landmark engineering achievements of the world. Built in an era when aesthetic qualities were given high priority, particularly on high-profile infrastructure projects, Gladesville Bridge is an impressive and visually distinctive structure that serves as an inner-city landmark from the road and river.The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its social value to the community of NSW. The replacement of the 1881 Gladesville Bridge, and the development of the unrealised North-Western Expressway, was a major Department of Main Roads project that was instigated by, and responded directly to, the demands of the Sydney community. The crossing of Parramatta River at this point was considered to be a critical connection between the city and the northern suburbs. A critical link in the planned expressway to Newcastle, the new Gladesville Bridge was to alleviate traffic congestion and provide better access for the new residential suburbs and communities that were developing in the post-war period. Today, Gladesville Bridge is a landmark structure that continues to be a major arterial roadway servicing the Sydney community.The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its technical significance and, as such, may have potential to reveal information about its world-class standards of design and construction that led to the structure being considered a leading example of technical and engineering achievement.The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales. Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as a rare example of a concrete arch span bridge in NSW. Gladesville Bridge is one of only two of its type in the state-the other is the nearby Tarban Creek Bridge which is a 300-foot bridge, built in 1965 as part of the same unrealised North-Western Expressway project that was also responsible for the construction of Gladesville Bridge. Although both were built by the same team, both Gladesville Bridge and Tarban Creek Bridge are distinctly different in their structural specifications and construction methods. The longest concrete arch span bridge in the world upon its construction (a record held for 15 years), Gladesville Bridge is now the seventh longest bridge of its type (in excess of 1000 feet) in the world. Eclipsed by the1280 foot Krk Bridge in Croatia (built in 1980), Gladesville Bridge continues to be the longest concrete arch span bridge in Australia.The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales. Gladesville Bridge is a representative example of the technological advancement of bridge design and construction in NSW. From the peak of the arch, one can witness the evolution of bridge engineering in Sydney - from the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932), to the Gladesville Bridge (1964) to the ANZAC Bridge (1995). Replacing an earlier 1881 swing bridge and ferry service, Gladesville Bridge is also a representative example of a critical transport crossing across the Parramatta River.

The bridge received an Engineering Heritage International Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program and was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Baxter, J. W.; Gee, A. F.; James, H. B. (March 1965). "Gladesville Bridge". Proceedings Instn Civil Engrs. 30 (6860): 489–530. Powell, Carol (1987). A River Revived: the Parramatta. Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press. ISBN 0-86840-138-2. Russell, Eric (1982). Drummoyne: a western suburbs' history from 1794 (Second ed.). Drummoyne, NSW: Council of the Municipality of Drummoyne. ISBN 0-9599312-1-X. "Parramatta River Bridges by River Cat" (PDF). Engineering Heritage Committee. The Institution of Engineers Australia Sydney Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2006. "Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Pedestrian and Cyclist Paths". Roads & Maritime Services. Government of New South Wales.

== External links ==