Church Street Bridge

The Church Street Bridge is an historic road arch bridge over the Yarra River and the Monash Freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It links Church Street in Richmond on the north bank with Chapel Street in South Yarra on the south.

Church Street Bridge
Coordinates 37°50′03″S 144°59′49″E
CarriesRoad, trams, pedestrians
CrossesYarra River, Monash Freeway
LocaleMelbourne, Australia
Characteristics
DesignReinforced concrete arch bridge
History
Opened1923

History
Church Street Bridge 1924. Architects Harold Desbrowe-Annear and Thomas Ramsden Ashworth.

The first bridge on the site was an iron girder bridge built in 1857. Purchased from the British government at the end of the Crimean War,[1] this bridge had a 210 feet (64 m) span with side trusses being solid riveted iron 10 feet (3.0 m) high, designed to prevent Russian snipers from killing British troops. The bridge was dismantled and reconstructed with stone buttresses on the site.[2]

The current bridge was designed by Harold Desbrowe Annear and opened in 1923, having three reinforced concrete arches supported by piled foundations.[3] As originally constructed all three spans crossed the river, but with the construction of the South Eastern Arterial in the 1960s, the river was diverted away from under the northern span, and the four lane road was built there instead. This method of construction reduced the clearance available to traffic on the road underneath, and in the 1990s in conjunction with the CityLink project the arch elements of this span were removed, and replaced by new elements 0.6 metres (2 ft 0 in) higher at the crown and 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) higher at either end.[3] Specialised monitoring was required during the process to manage the changing loads on the elements of the bridge.

In January 2007 rehabilitation work was carried out by VicRoads, including waterproofing the concrete deck, replacing the tram tracks, and general resurfacing. This required a total road and tramway closure.[4] Further work commenced in April 2007 and involved replacement of balustrades and new traffic barriers at the kerbs.[5]

The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is included in a Heritage Overlay.[6]

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References
  1. "The missing girders". Yarra Libraries. www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  2. City of Yarra. "Private and Public Transportation" (PDF). City of Yarra Heritage Review: Thematic History. 209.85.173.104. p. 60. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  3. "Church Street Bridge". www.slopeindicator.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  4. "Summer in the city spells gridlock as repairs rule the roads". The Age. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  5. "Church Street Bridge Works". VicRoads. www.vicroads.vic.gov.au. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  6. "Church Street Bridge, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H1917, Heritage Overlay HO19,HO239". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria.

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