Bradfield Highway is a highway that crosses the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and is one of the shortest highways in Australia. It opened along with the bridge itself on 19 March 1932 and was named in honour of John Bradfield, the engineer who designed and helped construct it.

Route

Bradfield Highway commences at the interchange with

Warringah Freeway Warringah Freeway is a divided freeway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. The primary function of the freeway is to provide an alternative high-grade route from the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and B ...

and Lavender Street in

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

and heads in a southerly direction as an eight-lane multi-carriageway road, crossing

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

over the

, before shortly terminating at the interchange with Western Distributor and

Cahill Expressway Cahill Expressway is an urban freeway in Sydney and was the first freeway constructed in Australia, with the first section, from the Bradfield Highway to Conservatorium Place being opened to traffic in March 1958. It links the southern end of ...

, at the former southern toll plaza at the southern foot of the bridge, at

Millers Point Millers Point is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, adjacent to The Rocks and is part of the local government area of the City o ...

. Bradfield Highway currently carries eight lanes of traffic over Sydney Harbour Bridge, each numbered from one to eight from west to east, but with the two easternmost lanes (lanes 7 and 8) permanently assigned in a southbound direction: lane 7 as a 24hr bus lane, and lane 8 as access solely to the off-ramp to

. During peak periods three out of the six remaining lanes are reversed, giving a 2 × 4, 3 × 3 or 5 × 1 flow. The default is 4 × 2, being four north lanes and two south lanes (with the remaining two permanent southbound lanes providing an even flow of traffic). The direction of the lanes is indicated by electronic signage above each lane. Lane six was also reversed prior to 1990 during the evening rush hour, giving a 6 × 0 flow, however this no longer occurs because of changes made to Warringah Freeway to accommodate the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. In 2001, 159,587 vehicles a day used the highway. Bradfield Highway is still designated as a

stock route A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquial ...

, and livestock can still be herded across the Sydney Harbour Bridge if properly arranged by a grazier.

History

As a government-appointed civil engineer, John Bradfield oversaw the tendering process for the construction of the

, and as the NSW Public Works Department chief engineer had oversight of the bridge design and construction. Amid some controversy, Bradfield was also considered to be the co-designer of the bridge's arch design, along with

Dorman Long Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. The company was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired '' ...

and Sir Ralph Freeman. When the bridge on 19 March 1932, the

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

Sir

Philip Game Sir Philip Woolcott Game (30 March 1876 – 4 February 1961) was a Royal Air Force commander, who later served as Governor of New South Wales and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (London). Born in Surrey in 1876, Game was educated at Cha ...

named the highway after him. Prior to the construction of Warringah Freeway in 1968, all traffic at the northern terminus of Bradfield Highway was directed to or from Pacific Highway, via North Sydney. In August 1992 the Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened which helped to relieve congestion on Bradfield Highway. The passing of the ''Main Roads Act of 1924'' through the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales, formally the Legislature of New South Wales, (definition of "The Legislature") is the bicameral legislative body of the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). It consists of the Monarch, the New South Wa ...

provided for the declaration of Main Roads, roads partially funded by the State government through the Main Roads Board (later the Department of Main Roads, and eventually

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW (TfNSW) is a Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government transport services and roads List of New South Wales government agencies, agency established on 1 November 2011. The agency is a different entity to the NSW ...

). With the subsequent passing of the ''Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929'' to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, the Department of Main Roads (having succeeded the MRB in 1932) declared Main Road 632 along Bradfield Highway, from the interchange with Lavender Street in North Sydney to the former southern toll plaza in Millers Point, on 22 January 1993. Despite its role as a grade-separated motorway, the road is not officially gazetted as one by

classification, and is still considered today to be a main road. The passing of the ''Roads Act of 1993'' updated road classifications and the way they could be declared within New South Wales. Under this act, Bradfield Highway retains its declaration as Main Road 632, and is specifically stated within the Roads Act 1993 to be a Main Road. Bradfield Highway was signed National Route 1 in 1955, until the Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened and it was re-aligned along it in 1992. State Route 28 was extended from its previous terminus, at Longueville Road and Pacific Highway in Lane Cove, along Gore Hill Freeway,

and Bradfield Highway when Gore Hill Freeway opened in 1992, but this was replaced by Metroad 2 a year later in 1993. It was removed when the

Lane Cove Tunnel The Lane Cove Tunnel is a twin-tunnel tollway in Sydney, Australia that is part of the Sydney Orbital Network. Owned by Transurban, It connects the M2 Motorway at North Ryde with the Gore Hill Freeway at Artarmon and forms part of Sydney's ...

opened in 2007.

Tolls

A road toll is levied on all vehicles travelling across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a southerly direction only; one also applies for vehicles travelling in the same direction using the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. In November 2014 NSW Roads & Maritime Services proposed an upgrade to the tolling infrastructure which included the construction new tolling gantries at four locations on the northern approaches to the bridge, covering Bradfield Highway (including the dedicated lane to reach Cahill Expressway) and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, and the removal of existing tolling gantries at both the northern and southern bridge termini.

Exits and interchanges

References

External links