The Bennelong Bridge is a vehicular bridge across

Homebush Bay Homebush Bay is a bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, in the west of Sydney, Australia. The name is also sometimes used to refer to an area to the west and south of the bay itself, which was formerly an official suburb of Sydney, a ...

between the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburbs of Rhodes and Wentworth Point. It opened on 22 May 2016.

History

Wentworth Point is a new suburb, having been designated under this name only in 2009 and rezoned by Auburn Council from industrial to (mostly) residential use in 2013.City of Parramatta - Wentworth Point - A Brief History
/ref> Before the bridge was built, Wentworth Point had only two road connections to the rest of Sydney and no access to rail transport except via Olympic Park railway station, some distance away. The western part of Rhodes, facing Homebush Bay, is also a newly redeveloped area, having been turned from industrial use to commercial and residential use only after extensive remediation works due to soil contamination from its decades of industrial use, which were completed in 2011. Linking Rhodes and Wentworth Point, the bridge was proposed by John Kinsella of Wentworth Point's developer Billbergia and designed by Wentworth Point Marina's urban designers and architects. It was designed to give Wentworth Point an additional access point by road (albeit not by car) and to allow residents to access Rhodes railway station. By improving access for the suburb, the developers were able to increase development densities in Wentworth Point. Construction of the Bennelong Bridge was approved by the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

in March 2013 with construction commencing in September 2014. As a designated T-Way,Homebush Bay Bridge
City of Canada Bay the bridge is the first in the Sydney region to exclude private vehicles, exclusively carrying Transit Systems bus route 526, Busways bus route 533, cyclists, pedestrians, and emergency vehicles (a similar bridge already exists in Brisbane, the Eleanor Schonell Bridge, which opened in 2006). It also has the capacity to carry a future extension of the Parramatta Light Rail. Bennelong Bridge is the first bridge to be funded entirely by property developers in return for additional development density at Wentworth Point under a Voluntary Planning Agreement between the developers and the Roads & Maritime Services. Initially known as the Homebush Bay Bridge, it was named Bennelong Bridge after the historic indigenous river resident Bennelong. It was inaugurated on 22 May 2016 and opened to traffic on 23 May 2016. Local state MPs John Sidoti and Luke Foley officially opened the bridge. Despite the bridge being restricted to foot traffic and public bus routes, there have been reports of private vehicles illegally using the bridge as a shortcut. To combat this, a bus lane camera was installed in November 2016 whereby motorists illegally using the bridge are fined and gain a demerit point.

Gallery

Wentworth Point Sydney.jpg, Looking towards Wentworth Point skyline Bennelong Bridge bus lane signage.jpg, Bennelong Bridge eastern entrance, with T-Way signs. Olympic Park skyline from Parramatta River (21623754143).jpg, The bridge under construction.

References

Bridges completed in 2016 Bridges in Sydney Concrete bridges in Australia 2016 establishments in Australia Road bridges in New South Wales Cyclist bridges in Australia Pedestrian bridges in Australia

History

Gallery

See also

References