The Captain Cook Bridge is a

road 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 somethi ...

that carries Taren Point and Rocky Point Roads across the Georges River in southern Sydney, in the state of

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 precast prestressed

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

girder A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ...

bridge crosses near the river mouth as it empties into

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

; and links the St George and Sutherland areas of Sydney. The bridge comprises a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction of

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

grade-separated conditions; and pedestrian and bicycle traffic, via two grade-separated paths. on the eastern and western sides of the bridge.

Location and features

The Captain Cook Bridge consists of seven spans totalling in length, with a long deck that is wide with six traffic lanes and two shared bicycle and pedestrian paths. Its foundations extend as deep as below water level to its

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

base. The bridge was opened on 29 May 1965 and links Rocky Point Road at Sans Souci in the St George area to Taren Point Road at Taren Point in the Sutherland Shire. Loop walkways run under the bridge at both sides and provide access along the foreshore. The bridge was designed by a team of engineers from the Department of Main Roads (DMR) led by Albert Fried. The DMR's Resident Engineer for the construction was

Ray Wedgwood Raymond John Lloyd Wedgwood (27 May 1942 – 5 March 2020) was an Australian engineer who served as the Chief Bridge Engineer of the NSW Department of Main Roads (DMR) and the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW (RTA). He designed and supervis ...

, who was later the Chief Bridge Engineer for the Roads and Traffic Authority. The main contractor was

John Holland Group The John Holland Group is an infrastructure, building, rail and transport business operating in Australia and New Zealand. Headquartered in Melbourne, it is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction. History The company was founded in ...

. The bridge is the easternmost of the seven major crossings of Georges River. The others are Tom Uglys Bridge, which opened in 1929, Alfords Point Bridge (1973, duplicated 2008), M5 Milperra bridge (1992), Milperra Bridge (replacement bridge 1966), Liverpool Bridge (replacement bridge 1958), and M5 Casula bridge (1985, widened 1988). The Captain Cook Bridge is the only section of the planned F6 Freeway that has been built in the Sydney metropolitan area, with the other built sections being between and Bulli Tops and further south between and . On the southern approach the two carriageways of the approach road diverge to allow for construction of a future interchange to also carry freeway traffic to and from the bridge. The speed limit on the bridge and the 1 km (0.62 miles) of freeway on the southern approach is . The bridge was designed to have the capacity to carry 30,000 vehicles on a weekday, but in 2015 the bridge was estimated to be carrying 30,600 vehicles per weekday.

History

A ferry service ran between Sans Souci and Taren Point from 1911. From April 1916 a vehicular punt ran between the two points, and continued to do so even after the opening of the Tom Uglys Bridge in 1929. The Captain Cook Bridge is named in honour of

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

, a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, who landed at nearby

Kurnell Kurnell is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire along the east coast. Cronulla and Woolooware are the onl ...

on 29 April 1770, during his first voyage of discovery aboard the '' Endeavour''. A big part of commissioning construction of the Captain Cook Bridge in 1962 was the fact that the nearby three-laned Tom Ugly's Bridge was carrying more traffic than any three lanes of the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

, and the Taren Point punt was at full capacity carrying 1000 cars daily.

Gallery

CaptainCookBridge.png, Captain Cook Bridge, as viewed from Blakehurst Captain Cook Bridge 01.JPG, Captain Cook Bridge, as viewed from Taren Point Road GeorgesRiverbridges1000.png, Captain Cook Bridge in the foreground, and Tom Uglys Bridge behind Captain_Cook_Bridge_from_Taren_Point.jpg, Captain Cook Bridge taken from Taren Point end at night

References

External links

* {{Road infrastructure in Sydney Bridges in Sydney Bridges completed in 1965 Concrete bridges in Australia Road bridges in New South Wales Box girder bridges History of Sydney Botany Bay Georges River St George (Sydney) Sutherland Shire 1965 establishments in Australia

Location and features

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links