The Charles Grimes Bridge is a dual-carriageway bridge that carries the

Docklands Highway Docklands Highway is an urban highway stretching 12 kilometres from Brooklyn in Melbourne's inner western suburbs to the Docklands precinct, adjacent to the city. This name covers many consecutive streets and is not widely known to most driver ...

over the

Yarra River The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stre ...

in the Docklands precinct of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It was named after New South Wales surveyor general Charles Grimes, who was the first European to see the

. This crossing of the Yarra River was located approximately 700m downstream of the Spencer Street Bridge, supporting dual four-lane structures; the

Country Roads Board The Country Roads Board was a government authority responsible for the construction and maintenance of main roads in the state of Victoria, Australia between 1913 and 1983. History The Country Roads Board (CRB) was formed to take over responsi ...

(later

VicRoads VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between the Victorian government and a c ...

) began construction on the bridge and its approach roads in January 1975. It connected Footscray Road on the northern side of the river to Johnson, Lorimer, Montague and Brady Streets on the south side of the river, and was designed to be compatible with a future extension of the

West Gate Freeway The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong (via the Princes Freeway) and Melbourne's western suburbs to ...

. The low clearance of the new bridge over the water would prevent shipping access to wharves and dry-dock facilities upstream, resulting in the closure of a number of the river wharves on the upstream side. The bridge was known during the construction as the Johnson Street Bridge, and was opened under that name by the Acting Minister of Transport, the Hon A H Scanlan MP, on 4 August 1978, with the total cost of the bridge and approach works at approximately $30 million; it was renamed the Charles Grimes Bridge in 1983. With the

Melbourne Docklands Docklands, also known as Melbourne Docklands, is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Docklands recorded a population ...

redevelopment of the 1990s, Footscray Road was closed as a through-route and rebuilt as

Harbour Esplanade Harbour Esplanade is a waterfront street and thoroughfare in Docklands, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs roughly north-south from Navigation Drive in the south to Docklands Drive in the north. The road also forms the ...

, with

Wurundjeri Way Wurundjeri Way is a road running through the Docklands Development west of the Melbourne central business district. It was constructed in 1999 as part of replanning and development of the former Melbourne rail yards and docks. Wurundjeri Way r ...

was constructed to the east as a replacement route. To connect to this new road, Flinders Street was upgraded, and the north end of the Charles Grimes Bridge was rebuilt on an easterly curve to connect to it. Reconstruction started in June 1999, and was completed by 2001. The bridge superstructure consists of five 33.5m long main spans the river, with five smaller spans between 12m and 24m in length over the existing wharf and riverbank. Each of the bridges carries four traffic lanes in one direction, and a footpath. Computer analysis was required during design due to the complex geometry of the spans. The

Jim Stynes Bridge The Jim Stynes Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River at Docklands precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The new bridge provides a vital link for pedestrians, cyclists and commuters between Melbourne's CBD, and the key prec ...

was opened in 2014 to carry pedestrian and cyclist traffic underneath the Charles Grimes Bridge, to connect the Docklands precinct to the Northbank area.

References

{{Yarra River Crossings Bridges in Melbourne Bridges over the Yarra River 1975 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Transport in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Bridges completed in 1978