The Fitzgerald Bridge is a bridge that carries the

New England Highway New England Highway is an long highway in Australia running from Yarraman, Queensland, Yarraman, north of Toowoomba, Queensland, at its northern end to Hexham, New South Wales, Hexham at Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle, New South Wales, ...

over the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

to the north of

Aberdeen, New South Wales Aberdeen is a small town in the upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in Upper Hunter Shire. It is 12 kilometres north of Muswellbrook on the New England Highway. History In 1828 Thomas Potter McQueen was granted 10,000 acres, and n ...

, Australia.

History

The original metal

lattice truss A lattice truss bridge is a form of truss bridge that uses many small, closely spaced diagonal elements forming a lattice. The design was patented in 1820 by architect Ithiel Town. Originally a means of erecting a substantial bridge from mere p ...

Fitzgerald Bridge was opened on 26 July 1893. In 1937 the wooden deck was replaced with concrete. In December 1986 the bridge was duplicated with a nearly identical second

warren truss In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...

bridge built by Britton & Kell to carry northbound traffic with the original converted to carry southbound traffic. In June 2014 both were replaced by a single structure to allow heavier trucks to operate. The 1893 bridge was retained as a pedestrian and cycle bridge while the 1986 bridge was demolished.Old bridge to serve a new purpose
The Nationals 23 July 2014 It was named after

Robert Fitzgerald Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (12 October 1910 – 16 January 1985) was an American poet, literary critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students".Mitgang, Herbert (Januar ...

References

{{Road infrastructure in regional New South Wales Bridges completed in 2014 Concrete bridges in Australia Hunter River (New South Wales) Road bridges in New South Wales 2014 establishments in Australia