Sydney Harbour Bridge and Precinct Network

The Sydney Harbour Bridge Precinct is one of the most notable and important road network assets in Transport’s portfolio.

Sydney Harbour Bridge is a major transportation channel linking the Sydney CBD to North Sydney. It moves approximately 160,000 road vehicles and 480 trains each day, and 1.3 million pedestrians and 400,000 bicyclists annually.

Additionally, it acts as the centre showpiece during significant celebrations such as the globally renowned New Year’s Eve and Vivid Festival events.

The Bridge approaches and its curtilage areas are of National and State Heritage Significance and are listed on the State Heritage Register and the National Heritage List.

Precinct inclusions are

• Sydney Harbour Bridge, comprising of the entire range of assets that make up the Bridge structure, links the southern and northern shores of Sydney Harbour, spanning from Dawes Point in the south to Milsons Point in the north.
• Bradfield Highway road corridor, the main roadway over the bridge, up to Alfred Street exit at the northern end, and all ramps to and from the highway, including Bradfield Tunnel at the south-west end.
• Cahill Expressway to Art Gallery Road including Shakespeare Place to Macquarie Street, the City Circle Railway bridge structure at Circular Quay, and the Domain Tunnel at the eastern end.
• Plus Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) assets, Static Signs, and Delineation (S&D) assets which control the traffic flow on the Bridge and around the Precinct.

Sydney’s Iconic Bridge

The largest steel arch bridge in the world, the Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Australia’s most famous structural landmarks arching across the blue waters of the Harbour. Every day and night it is used by pedestrians, rail and road traffic travelling between the Gadigal land on the southern CBD side, and Cammeraygal land on the northern side of the waters.

Construction began in July 1923, and it took eight years of hard toil to finally bring the project to completion in March 1932.

The construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge was a colossal effort, requiring the skills of 1,400 workers over 8 years. They put in place 53,000 tonnes of steel and used over 6 million hand-driven rivets to put the bridge together. The job was finished with 272,000 litres of paint.