Source: Item 15: Cuttings Mainly regarding Suggestions for a Second Harbour Bridge in Sydney, 1922, 1922. Accessed July 28, 2023, https://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true&toolbar=false&dps_pid=IE6258874&_ga=2.23513913.2006621465.1690502948-563559362.1682639266&_gl=1*1f7f6uc*_ga*NTYzNTU5MzYyLjE2ODI2MzkyNjY.*_ga_CYHFMM592Q*MTY5MDUxMzU1NS42LjEuMTY5MDUxMzg2OC41NC4wLjA.
In 1922, engineer Ernest Stowe proposed a three-way bridge to cross Sydney Harbour as "cheap" solution to building a harbour crossing. The three bridges would have linked the Sydney CBD with the North Shore and Balmain. It was envisioned that the bridges converge in a central tower on Goat Island. It was floated as a proposal alongside what became the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The proposal was floated in 1959 as a second harbour crossing by a Longueville resident who suggested that the bridge design be based on the Gladesville Bridge, which was proposed at the time. Below is an article from The Sydney Morning Herald in 1959.
Source: Anon. 1959. "Triple-Bridge Plan to Span Harbour". The Sydney Morning Herald, March 14: 9.
In 1981, a scaled-down proposal was proposed. The bridge scheme was one of several schemes which included tunnels under Sydney Harbour running predominantly through the eastern half of the Balmain Peninsula.
Source: Malley, J. "Under or over the Harbour: a choice". The Sydney Morning Herald, December 7: 1.
Locals on both sides of the harbour mobilised, citing concerns over the loss of homes and safety risks associated with tunnels. This eventually led to the proposal being dropped, which ultimately led to the construction of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.
Source: Glasscott, J. 1982. "Balmain mobilised against the second crossing". The Sydney Morning Herald, June 30: 1.
Four decades later, the Western Harbour Tunnel fulfils the vision to allow those driving from the west to cross Sydney Harbour without driving through the Sydney CBD and need not use the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Instead of heading in a northerly or northwest direction as envisioned by Stowe in 1922, the tunnel will send motorists in a north-easterly direction under Balmain and Birchgrove to Sydney Harbour, underneath the harbour and under Balls Head and North Sydney before connecting with the Warringah Expressway.
No comments:
Post a Comment