Roseville Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Early evening traffic on Roseville Bridge, looking south-west.

Roseville Bridge crosses Middle Harbour in Sydney, Australia. It is the only crossing besides Spit Bridge.

[edit] History

Roseville Bridge is the second bridge to cross Middle Harbour in this area. The original bridge was opened in 1924 and was a low-level two-lane bridge. It was located downstream of the current bridge, and connected Babbage Road to what is today called Healey Way, which is the entrance to Davidson Park within Garrigal National Park. The suburbs east of Middle Harbour grew rapidly in the years following the opening of Roseville Bridge and in 1966 a new six-lane, high-level bridge was opened, along with a significant upgrade of the approach roads, which became the six-lane Warringah Road, an almost freeway grade 2 km stretch of road.

The 1924 bridge survived, providing access to pedestrians only, until it was demolished in 1974, along with Roseville Baths. Almost nothing remains.

[edit] Today

In 21st century Sydney, Roseville Bridge is part of a major throughfare from the Pacific Highway at Roseville to the Northern Beaches and suburbs east of Middle Harbour. There are two other major roads to these areas, Mona Vale Road, and Spit Road which crosses Middle Harbour downstream from Roseville Bridge using the Spit Bridge. Because of this, Roseville Bridge is heavily trafficked during peak times - which may be because with its six lanes and 80 km/h speed limit, it presents a tempting alternative to the congested Military and Spit Roads.