SYDNEY’S GREAT BRIDGE

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 27

SYDNEY’S GREAT BRIDGE

j DEVELOPING A LONG-DELAYED SCHEME. ! (Fro.ii Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 29. As long ago as 1815 the Government j architect iif the day submitted to Governor i Macquarie a scheme for bridging Sydney I harbour, and it lias been mere or less a | burning question ever since. But it is an j enormous undertaking, the minimum period ! necessary for construction being set down ;by engineers at ten t ears. Consequently no I Government so tar has been courageous i enough to do much more than talk about ! it. In the meantime, fostered by the world's i most, wonderful ferry service, the suburbs I on the northern side, of the harbour, opposite to the city, have continued to expand j at an extraordinary rate, until to-day they j extend for miles, and have tens of thousands j of inhabitants. i Furthermore, the foolishness of delay has ! been brought home strikingly by tbe fact ! that since 1911 the estimated cost of tho | bridge has increased from £2.750,000 t©‘ i £6,000,000. These considerations, together j vi* l l h alarming congestion on the ferries in j tiie morning and evening business rushes, ! and the popular outcry against the continuj ally increasing fates, have moved the pre- | sent Government, to take what appear to | be serious steps towards tho materialisation jof ike, bridge. Tenders ate being invited | forth with, anti the ('hief Engineer for RailI way Construction, Mr Rr.tdfield. is depart--1 mg for America, and London to advise proj specrive tenderers. J The bridge proposed, whilst not having I a . 5 ,.1 o»ti <g ;v span as tlte Forth Bridge, near i bullionrgii. would be tlie heaviest niece of | steel bridge work in the world. It would J be bn It to carry four lines of railway as I well as provision for vehicular and pedes- ! Irian traffic, whilst the Forth bridge carries | only two. It would be possible for the j transcontinental train to proceed direct from ) Rockhampton, in Queensland, to Perth, in | Western Australia, and all such traffic would | pass over the bridge, which would fee con- | stiucfed to carry with ease the heaviest j we gilts cf any bridge in the world.