Amongst the various man made constructional wonders of the world, is also the Sydney Harbour Bridge which also has the nickname ‘the Coathanger’. Located on the Sydney Harbour of Australia, it is a massive arch bridge which gives a thorough fare to vehicles, rail, pedestrians, and bicycles.
The inspiration behind the Sydney Harbour Bridge was the Hell Gate Bridge of New York. It was built under the instructional guidance of Dr. J.J.C.Bradfield and got opened for the public in the 1932. It is known to be the sixth longest arch bridge of the world and is also the tallest arch structure being 134 metres away from the water level.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge uses 6 million hand driven rivets and the surface area of the bridge which had to be painted took the estimated area of 60 sports fields. Such is the design of the field that the hinges can absorb the expansion of the bridge taking place due to sun. The grand old bridge can support eight lanes of vehicular traffic, one pedestrian footpath, one bicycle path, and lastly two railway tracks. The arch has been built with the help of 28 panel arch trusses and a number of modified pylons which were re-modified in the 1942 with the help of anti-aircraft guns so that they could be of help to provide defence in case of necessity.
The grand Sydney Harbour Bridge makes the face of Australia along with the famous Sydney Opera House. Right from it construction period, the Sydney Harbour Bridge has been of tourist interest from a number of perspectives. One of it is interesting features is the south east pylon which can be accessed through the pedestrian path and then with a flight of 200 stairs. Reaching up the pylon there are a couple of attractions like the camera obscura, the Aboriginal museum, a cafe, a ”pashometre”, and lastly the viewing platform where there are telescopes from which the entire Sydney is visible.
Though during the Second World War, the pylons went under the authority of the armed forces but, in the year 1982 they were reopened for the public and other attractions like souvenir shops were opened on the pylon. From 1998 there has been yet another interesting part of the bridge where people were given the permission to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Now there are similar climbing tours of the bridge even during nights, except for times when there are predictions of electrical storms and strong winds.
As the Sydney Harbour Bridge is of national importance to Australia, it has been used for various kinds of celebrations too like the 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Bicentennial Australia Day celebrations, the New Year’s Eve of Sydney every year, and so on. It is therefore undoubtedly an attraction worth a visit.