Bridgewater Bridge (Tasmania, Australia)
| Bridgewater Bridge | |
|---|---|
The Bridgewater Bridge, over the Derwent river between the towns of Granton and Bridgewater.
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| Coordinates | 42°44′27″S 147°13′31″E / 42.74083°S 147.22528°E |
| Carries |
 Midland HighwaySouth Railway Line |
| Crosses | Derwent River |
| Locale | Hobart, Tasmania |
| Maintained by | Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Vertical lift |
| History | |
| Opened | 1946 |
The Bridgewater Bridge and Causeway spans the Derwent River in Tasmania, Australia between Bridgewater and Granton. It consists of a vertical lift bridge and a specially-built causeway connecting the bridge to the east bank of the river. It accommodates a two-lane highway, a single track railway and, on the bridge section, a footpath. As the bridge is the major connector of the Midland Highway on the eastern shore and the Brooker Highway on the western, the lifting of the bridge can cause considerable traffic delays, depending on the time of day and season.
The Bridgewater Bridge was one of the first bridges constructed in Tasmania following British settlement in 1803, and gave its name to the nearby suburb of Bridgewater, Hobart. Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur commissioned the construction of the bridge and causeway as part of the Launceston-Hobart Trunk Road, linking both Tasmanian towns and providing easier access to farmlands in the interior of Tasmania.
Construction commenced on the bridge in 1829. Operations were supervised by Roderic O'Connor. The causeway, which was constructed first, was built by a workforce of 200 convicts who had been condemned to secondary punishment. These convicts, using nothing but wheelbarrows, shovels and picks and sheer muscle power, shifted 2 million tonnes (2,200,000 short tons) of soil, stones and clay. The finished causeway stretched 1.3 kilometres (0.8 mi), although did not span the full width of the Derwent. The original plan apparently called for a viaduct, but this plan was abandoned and the half-built arches were filled in to form the present causeway.
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