Q7721758

About

The Causeway is an arterial traffic crossing in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner-city suburbs of East Perth and Victoria Park. It is carried over the Swan River at the eastern end of Perth Water by two bridges on either side of Heirisson Island. The current Causeway is the third structure to have been built across the river at this point. Originally the site of mudflats which restricted river navigation, the Colony Government constructed a causeway and bridge across the site. The project was first planned in 1834 and opened in 1843. When floods in 1862 almost destroyed it, the structure was rebuilt using convict labour, and raised to better withstand future floods. Governor John Hampton officially opened the new Causeway on 12 November 1867. Over the following decades, the three bridges making up this second Causeway were widened several times, and they were eventually replaced in 1952. The current Causeway bridges were designed by E W C Godfrey, and built between 1947 and 1952. They were the first in Western Australia to use steel composite construction. Large roundabouts were also constructed at each end of the structure, to improve the flow of traffic. The opening of the...

Following the settlement of the Swan River Colony in 1829, the Swan River was the main transportation link between Perth and the port of Fremantle. Land transportation was difficult as the only river crossing near Perth, a ford at the eastern end of the town, was often impassable for wagons and carts. The next crossing point was 32 kilometres (20 mi) upstream at Guildford, a major detour. The only alternative to these river crossings were ferries, which operated from North Fremantle, Preston Point, and the Narrows.

Soon after the colony was founded, settlers lobbied for the construction of a road across the mudflats in the Swan River at the eastern end of the town. A preliminary survey of the site was conducted in 1834 by the Commissioner for Roads and Bridges, George Fletcher Moore, together with Surveyor General John Septimus Roe. A public meeting on 17 February 1837 passed a resolution urging the colony's government to construct the road at the site, and Roe showed the public plans for the proposed causeway. A year later, in January 1838, the Perth Gazette noted that preliminary work had been carried out towards building the Causeway, which is thought to have been the upgrading of Adelaide Terrace from the "bush track" it was previously.

A committee was set up in October 1838 to investigate the viability of a causeway at the site. On 16 February 1839 plans which had been prepared by Roe were submitted by the committee's chairman to Henry Trigg, the Superintendent of Public Works. Trigg called for other plans and prepared estimates. At a meeting of the committee on 27 February 1839, Trigg submitted a plan designed by Frederick Irwin, which was estimated to cost £ 2,300, equivalent to A$ 280,900 in 2022. The committee cut the estimated figure to £1,800, equivalent to A$219,900 in 2022, and waited for Governor Hutt to specify how much could be funded by the government.

This original causeway consisted of a central bridge (for river navigation), with a raised rampart on either side. The first pile of the central bridge was driven home on 2 November 1840. The bridge was completed in 1841, costing £449 10 s, equivalent to A$54,900 in 2022, although the approaches to the bridge took longer to complete. The Causeway was sufficiently completed in January 1842 to be used by horsemen, and the Causeway was finally finished in May 1843 at a total cost of £1,814 10 s, equivalent to A$271,400 in 2022. It was officially opened on 24 May 1843 by J. W. Hardey, the chairman of the Road Trust, in the presence of only one other person, one of his friends.

The Causeway was originally a toll road, and costs for crossing ranged from one penny (1d), equivalent to A$0.62 in 2022, for a person on foot to six pence (6d), equivalent to A$3.74 in 2022, for a horse-drawn cart. The tolls were subject to an additional levy of 50 per cent during the night hours. The tolls were later removed, and it appears to have been Perth's only toll road.

In June 1862 major flooding was experienced in many towns in the region, resulting in losses over £30,000, equivalent to A$4.3 million in 2022. In Perth, Mounts Bay Road was completely submerged, and the original causeway was almost destroyed after being under 2.1 or 2.4 metres (7 or 8 ft) of water. However, Governor John Hampton ordered that the Causeway should be reconstructed and raised several feet. The new Causeway was designed by Richard Roach Jewell and built by convicts.

The opening of the newly refurbished Causeway was a more pompous affair than that of the first Causeway. The second Causeway was to be opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred ; however the Royal Navy ship HMS Galatea failed to call in to Western Australia on its way to Sydney. As a result, the Governor proceeded with the opening in the Duke's absence. On 12 November 1867 the Governor drove "through an avenue of flags and bunting" from Government House to the Causeway. There were military corps, a band and a great crowd present for the opening. After speeches by dignitaries, the Governor declared the new Causeway open with the following words:

I, John Stephen Hampton, Governor in and over the Colony of Western Australia, do hereby declare this Perth Bridge and Causeway open for traffic.

The proceedings were then disrupted when a man "raced across the newly-opened bridge before the Governor's procession" on horseback after announcing the following to the astonished crowd:

- And I, John Stephen Maley, do hereby declare that I will be the first to cross this Perth Bridge and Causeway!

The parade, including the Governor's carriage, then proceeded over the new Causeway after Maley. The Governor's procession continued on steam boats upstream to Guildford where the Governor opened the new Guildford and Helena Bridges.

This second Causeway was made up of three bridges with a combined length of 488 metres (1,600 ft). Budget constraints encountered during construction meant that the bridges were structurally quite weak. A maximum of 2 tonnes (4,480 lb), or six head of cattle, was initially allowed across at a time.

This Causeway was modified several times during its life. In 1899 it was widened by the addition of a footpath, while by 1904 it had been strengthened and widened by an average of 2.9 metres (9 ft 6 in). In June 1905 the Causeway was placed under the control of the Minister for Works. From 1932 to 1933 the Causeway bridges were widened a further 3 metres (10 ft) on their downstream side, which increased the total width to 11 metres (37 ft).

Plans to build a new bridge at the Narrows downstream from the Causeway in the aftermath of World War II were put on hold while a new causeway could be constructed. Vehicle traffic using the Causeway had almost doubled between 1930 and 1939.

The current Causeway was built between 1947 and 1952, and designed by E. W. C. Godfrey. It is made up of two bridges, meeting at Heirisson Island. Considerable work was carried out to dredge the river to provide much wider navigation channels. The Heirisson Islands were turned into a single island and a substantial portion of land beside Trinity College was reclaimed.

The bridges were the "first truly modern bridges" built in Perth after World War II, being the first bridges in Western Australia to use steel composite construction, and only the second (and third) in Australia. The bridges have a combined length of 341 metres (1,119 ft), with both featuring a 19-metre-wide (62 ft) roadway allowing for six traffic lanes, and an 2.4-metre-wide (8 ft) footway on the western side. In order to achieve a sufficiently high clearance above the river channels at high tide, the bridges have graded approaches that increase the roadway elevation.

The south-eastern bridge is the longer of the two, at 225 metres (737 ft) long. It is made up of 11 spans, each consisting of nine welded plate girders, with a 10-metre (33 ft) relieving span at each end. The north-western bridge is shorter, at only 116 metres (382 ft) in length, and has five spans, with a 11-metre (35 ft) relieving span at each end. The bridge decks are of reinforced concrete supported by the plate girders, which are in turn freely supported by the concrete piers.

Supply problems in the aftermath of World War II meant that the concrete piers were founded on jarrah timber piles, rather than concrete. Additionally, a steel plate shortage forced the bridge's designers to avoid the use of steel to design the forms in the bridge's superstructure. Also, the cement that was used on the bridges had to be procured from seven different sources, which led to variable durability of different parts of the bridges.

The previous Causeway had carried electric trams, and it was expected that the new Causeway would also do so, or perhaps trolleybuses instead. However, the proposed overhead wires were deemed too ugly for the new bridge, and between £A 30,000 and £A 40,000, equivalent to between A$2.3 million and A$3.1 million in 2022, could be saved by using buses instead. The tram routes using the Causeway were replaced with bus services but, despite that, the bridges were designed to be able to carry trams.