Iron Cove Bridge

The Iron Cove Bridge is a heritage-listed road bridge that carries Victoria Road (A40) across Iron Cove, between the Sydney suburbs of Drummoyne and Rozelle. Iron Cove is an arm of Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson).

The original Iron Cove Bridge was constructed of nine wrought iron lattice girder spans each 38.5 m long, and opened in 1882 after four years of construction. In conjunction with the opening of the first Gladesville Bridge the previous year, the opening of the bridge provided a ferry-free route for road traffic from Sydney via Drummoyne to the Ryde area and then in 1885, with the opening of the first Fig Tree Bridge across the Lane Cove River, to the North Shore.

All that remains at Iron Cove of the original bridge are the sandstone abutments situated on both sides of the cove approximately 20 metres (66 ft) south of the current bridge. The abutment on the Drummoyne side is listed on the local government heritage list.

When the replacement bridge was opened in 1955, Gordon Duff, the Shire Engineer for Jemalong Shire Council (now part of Forbes Shire) negotiated with the Department of Main Roads to buy the lattice girders from the original bridge for £18,000 and had them transported to Forbes, and they were re-used by Jemalong Shire to build a number of bridges. Because of their good resistance to corrosion and the relatively low humidity in the area, all nine of the 1882 bridge's pairs of girders are still in use in three bridges on country roads in the Forbes district. although the smallest of these has been superseded. The longest of the three bridges is the Bundaburrah Creek bridge on New Grenfell Road 9 km southeast of Forbes, for which five of the nine pairs of girders were reused. This bridge opened in March 1961. Another three of the pairs were used for the bridge over Goobang Creek on Yarrabandai Rd at Gunning Gap, 25 km northwest of Forbes, and the final pair was reused for the Mafeking Bridge over Back Creek on Wirrinya Rd near Garema, 21 km south of Forbes. However this bridge was replaced by a new two-span pre-stressed concrete bridge in mid 2023.

A decision to replace the original bridge was made in 1939 just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Design work began in 1942 but due to the Second World War construction by Hornibrook McKenzie Clarke Pty Ltd was unable to be commenced until 1947. The bridge was officially opened by the Hon. J.J. Cahill, MLA, Premier and Colonial Treasurer of NSW on 30 July 1955.

Designed by Laurie Challis from the NSW Department of Main Roads, the Iron Cove Bridge is an impressive steel truss bridge. It consists of four 18-metre (59 ft) plate girder approach spans and seven 52-metre (171 ft) steel Pratt truss spans for a total length of 461.26 metres (1,513 ft). Four lanes of traffic are located within the truss spans and the overall width of the roadway is 13.7 metres (45 ft) between kerbs. The roadway consists of a 127-millimetre (5 in) reinforced concrete deck slab with an inset for tram tracks in the centre portion.

The bridge has aesthetically distinctive piers and abutments which reflect the Inter-War Art Deco style. Furthermore, it was the last steel truss bridge to be constructed in New South Wales in which rivets were used for field connections prior to the introduction of high strength bolts.

The bridge was built to carry four lanes of traffic, however in 1970 the footway along the southwestern side, outside of the truss spans, was converted to a fifth lane (meaning that traffic using this lane must remain in the lane for the full length of the bridge). Until the bridge duplication was completed in 2011, the default configuration was three westbound and two eastbound lanes, switching to two westbound and three eastbound lanes during the morning peak.