Peats Ferry Bridge - Historic Engineering Marker #80 Brooklyn, New South Wales, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 22-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7678

Peats Ferry Bridge - Historic Engineering Marker #80

Any bridge across the drowned river valley of the Lower Hawkesbury River has had to be a major engineering work. So it has been for the 1889 railway bridge and its replacement in 1946, and the 1945 bridge for the Pacific Highway. The railway bridges through the association with the Father of Federation, Sir Henry Parkes, were plaqued as National Engineering Landmarks during the Centenary of Federation 2001.

The Peats Ferry Bridge, built during the demands of World War 11 set world bridging records and had technical innovations that rank it as a work of significant engineering heritage. Planning began in 1926 to replace the under-capacity ferry service for the increasingly busy and important Pacific Highway and was carried through to completion by the Department of Main Roads using its own engineering staff and local industries, particularly the historically significant Clyde Engineering (formerly Hudson Brothers), a truly Australian achievement.

The principal aspects of engineering significance are,

1. the single caisson-pier at the junction of the two steel trusses was founded 241 ft (73.5m) below low water level, the second deepest in the world.
2. the extensive use of welding to fabricate the large structural members for the trusses.
3. the K-trusses at 438ft (133.5m) span were the largest steel trusses for road bridgework in Australia. The bridge has good aesthetic lines within the surroundings of the river valley. It has provided enormous social benefits for the east coast of Australia, particularly to communication north of Sydney and to the Central Coast of NSW.

Contents of the plaque:

Engineers of the Department of Main Roads designed and supervised construction of this bridge which was opened on 5 May 1945, demonstrating significant technical achievement despite wartime constraints. Clyde Engineering fabricated the steelwork and Balgue Constructions built the bridge. It had the longest spans in the world using welded components and the main caisson pier was the second deepest in the world. The bridge consolidated the Pacific Highway as the road north from Sydney and boosted development of the Central Coast region.

The Institution of Engineers Australia and Roads and traffic Authority, NSW 2005

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/peats-ferry-bridge-hawkesbury-river-1945