The Parramatta River railway bridge is a heritage-listed former

railway bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

and now

cycleway Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except wher ...

which carried the Main Northern line across the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. S ...

between the suburbs of Meadowbank and

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

in the

City of Canada Bay The City of Canada Bay is a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The city was formed on 1 December 2000, following the merger of Concord and Drummoyne councils. The city covers an area of and as at the ...

local government area of Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The railway bridge was designed by

John Whitton John Whitton (1820, near Wakefield, Yorkshire, England – 20 February 1898), an Anglo–Australian railway engineer, was the Engineer-in-Charge for the New South Wales Government Railways, serving between 1856 and 1890, considered the Father of ...

and built in 1886. The bridge is also known as the Meadowbank Rail Bridge over Parramatta River, erroneously the

John Whitton Bridge The John Whitton Bridge is a railway bridge that carries the Main Northern railway line across the Parramatta River, located between the Sydney suburbs of Rhodes and Meadowbank. First bridge The original double track Meadowbank Bridge opened ...

and the Meadowbank–Rhodes Railway Bridge. The property is owned by

Transport Asset Holding Entity Transport Asset Holding Entity of New South Wales (TAHE) is a state-owned corporation of the New South Wales Government in New South Wales, Australia, established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was converted and renamed fr ...

, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999.

History

The bridge was built in 1886. In 1980, a new parallel bridge, the John Whitton Bridge, was built to carry the train line and the historic bridge was taken out of use. After twenty years of disuse, it was converted to a pedestrian bridge and cycleway in the lead-up to the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. In 2016, the local mayor and state opposition expressed concern about the deteriorating state of the bridge and called upon the state government to fund repairs and confirm their future plans for the bridge.

Heritage listing

The Meadowbank–

bridge is one of twelve double lattice girder bridges that survive substantially intact in the NSW railway system. As such it is of exceptional heritage significance as evidence of a short lived but highly popular approach to bridge design in which the spanning girders were reinforced by a lattice of bars, adjusted to suit changing structural forces. This bridge is the largest double track lattice girder bridge to be prefabricated in England for export to Australia and has significant variations on the standardised design. The bridge is one of the most architecturally impressive nineteenth century Australian railway structures. A unity in design, lively detail, skilful use of materials and fine workmanship is displayed by the bridge and its abutments. The Meadowbank-Rhodes bridge is an exceptional piece of early Australian railway engineering.Sinclair Knight Merz, 1996 Meadowbank Rail Bridge over Parramatta River was listed on the

on 2 April 1999.

Engineering heritage award

The bridge received a Historic Engineering Marker from

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA) is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the community. Engineers Australia is Australia's recognized org ...

as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.

References

Bibliography

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Attribution

External links

{{commons category-inline, John Whitton Bridge New South Wales State Heritage Register Cyclist bridges in Australia Pedestrian bridges in Australia Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register Meadowbank 1886 establishments in Australia Bridges completed in 1886 Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers