The Hexham Bridge is a pair of

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

s that carry the Pacific Highway across 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 ...

from Tarro to

Tomago Tomago is a combined industrial/semi-rural suburb of the Port Stephens Council, Port Stephens Local government in Australia, local government area in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located just north of the Hunter River, ...

in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

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 ...

, Australia. It comprises two separate structures; a

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

opened on the 17 December 1952 by Acting Minister of Transport George Weir and a concrete bridge opened in 1987.

History

Prior to the construction of the bridge, the Department of Main Roads operated a car ferry to carry the Pacific Highway across the

. In November 1945, a contract was awarded to build a

with a central lifting span. However, due to a shortage of materials following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was not completed until December 1952. A concrete high-level fixed bridge opened to the west of the original bridge in July 1987 to carry northbound traffic, with the original converted to carry southbound traffic only.Annual report year ended 30 June 1988 Department of Main Roads page 19

References

External links

{{Road infrastructure in regional New South Wales, state=collapsed Bridges completed in 1952 Concrete bridges in Australia Hunter River (New South Wales) Road bridges in New South Wales Steel bridges in Australia Vertical lift bridges in Australia 1952 establishments in Australia