VISIONS OF SYDNEY: Additional Sydney Harbour Bridge Roadways (1987)

Sydney's Number One icon - The Sydney Harbour Bridge has even had own visions placed on it. I am not referring to the alternate designs or early proposals, but rather the existing structure itself.

Since opening in 1932, it has had to shoulder the burden of carrying vehicles from north to south and vice versa. For sixty years, it was the only direct crossing for vehicles across Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel in 1992 provided Sydney motorists with a second crossing. It did for a few years take the pressure off the bridge itself. 

It is anticipated by 2027, a third road crossing, the Western Harbour Tunnel will provide another bypass road for Sydney's CBD. The tunnel will connect the WestConnex with the Warringah Expressway, running under the Balmain Peninsula and North Sydney.

Building a harbour crossing is not cheap. The Western Harbour Tunnel will cost at least $7 billion to build (likely to be higher) and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel cost $560 million to build.

Proposals or visions for additional crossings has lasted for decades. 

To avoid construction of new crossings, some have proposed boosting the capacity of the briudge itself through construction of additional road decks, either above or below the existing road deck.

In 1987, Architect Bruce Payne of Whitehead and Payne along with the support of Dr Keith Bradfield (son of Dr. John Bradfield), unveiled a proposal to build two additional strips of lanes above the existing lanes instead of building the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.  

The two strips would carry an additional four lanes of traffic (combined) with two lanes in each direction.

Source: Anon. 1987. "$100m double-decker plan to cross Harbor". The Daily Telegraph, March 32:13. 

It was the not the first proposal. In 2005, "Project Star" proposed that a second deck would be built in the undercarriage of the bridge allowing the bridge to carry an additional four lanes of traffic plus an additional two rail tracks.

In 2010, The Sun Herald, reported on a proposal by transport experts to build a second rail deck underneath the existing road deck to accomodate a new heavy rail line running from St Leonards to the city, following largely what is now the Sydney CBD Metro with new platforms at Wynyard instead of a new station at Barangaroo.