Victoria Bridge

About

The Victoria Bridge, also known as the Victoria Bridge over the Nepean River, is a heritage-listed former railway bridge and now wrought iron box plate girder road bridge across the Nepean River on the Great Western Highway in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith in the City of Penrith local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The bridge was designed by John Whitton, the Engineer–in–Chief of New South Wales Government Railways, and built from 1862 to 1867 by William Piper, Peto Brassey and Betts (superstructure), William Watkins (piers). It is also known as Victoria Bridge, The Nepean Bridge and RTA Bridge No. 333. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 May 2016. The bridge initially carried rail and horse–drawn traffic, and was converted in 1907 to exclusively carry the Great Western Highway. The bridge is managed by Transport for NSW. The bridge is the oldest surviving crossing of the Hawkesbury–Nepean River. As at 2009, Roads & Maritime Services estimated that Victoria Bridge carried an average daily traffic of 25,000 vehicles per day. Until 1856 travellers who wished to cross the Nepean River were required to use either the Emu Ford or a punt...

Today the bridge's significance as a road route to and from the Blue Mountains is diminished. Since 1971, the M4 Motorway has replaced the Great Western Highway as the main arterial route, crossing the Nepean River at Regentville, although the Victoria Bridge still officially carries the Great Western Highway into Emu Plains. Since the Knapsack Viaduct section was bypassed by the Western Motorway in 1993, the Great Western Highway joins the M4 Motorway in Leonay, where the route assumes the former's name.

The bridge maintains its significance as a local tourist attraction and a centrepiece to sporting events along the Nepean River, as well as continuing to serve as vital link between the suburbs west of the Nepean, such as Emu Plains, and the major suburban centre of Penrith. The 1907 railway bridge still takes the Main Western railway line over the river.

An undivided pedestrian pathway approximately 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) is located adjacent to the roadway. Following community advocacy, in 2010, Roads & Maritime Services commenced a feasibility study into a shared pedestrian/cyclist pathway over the bridge. By mid-2016 Roads & Maritime Services contracted Seymour Whyte to build the Yandhai Nepean Crossing, a pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the Nepean River, south of the Victoria Bridge, to connect Penrith and Emu Plains. The bridge opened in October 2018.

Victoria Bridge is a continuous iron through-bridge (the deck is between the girders rather than on top of them). The three main girders, each spanning a clear 56.7 metres (186 ft), were designed and constructed as one 181-metre (594 ft) long continuous structure (no separations over the piers ), a novel structural feature for 1867 (Maw and Dredge). This structure, supported by hollow stone piers at 60.35 metres (198.0 ft) centres, has iron cross girders which support a concrete deck, 3.5 metres (11 ft) below the tops of the main girders which are 3.95 metres (13.0 ft) deep. Each span has a camber of 100 millimetres (3.9 in). There is a secondary, shorter, shallower, simply-supported girder, 41.1 metres (135 ft) long at the western (Emu Plains) end of the bridge. All four iron girders have pairs of hollow boxes top and bottom separated by two web plates, an early version of box-girder construction. They are all of riveted construction. The total weight of wrought iron is around 1,100 tonnes (1,213 short tons).

The bridge consists of three main spans of iron box girder, one secondary span of iron box girder and three concrete approach spans on either side of the bridge.

The piers that support the main spans are constructed of sandstone, the pier supporting the western end of the secondary iron girder span is constructed of mass concrete. The piers supporting the approach spans are constructed of concrete trestle frames. Piped services are supported under the pedestrian walkway portion of the deck and a large pipe is supported on the top flange of one of the main girders.

T-section shaped stiffeners can be seen running vertically down the sides of the girders at the bearing ends. There are 5 stiffeners over the central piers and 3 over outer piers. Stiffeners prevent the thin web plates from buckling vertically.

Architectural curved angle sections appear on the outer face of the girders of the main span. These serve no structural function but "lighten the appearance of the structure"

There are flood markers on the side of the easternmost sandstone pier. The remnants of old light posts can be seen on the piers on the northern side of the bridge.

There are modern street light posts and lights on the southern piers of the bridge.

As at 1 December 2008, the fabric of the bridge is generally in very good condition. There is little sign of rust on iron elements and concrete and stone elements also appear to be in good condition.

There may be remains of the piles of the earlier bridges still embedded in the riverbed. There is also the possibility that relics of the construction platforms, crane bases or coffer dams used to construct Victoria Bridge may be found in the riverbed.

The bridge has undergone several alterations in its life so far. The bulk of the bridge however remains intact.

The bridge has undergone several alterations in its life so far. The bulk of the bridge however remains intact.

- 1869 – Western approach spans were rebuilt following damage of the original timber approach spans by flood two weeks after the bridge was opened. The new spans were of a similar design to the main spans but with cast iron caisson piers.

- c. 1870 –90 – The original road surface was close-fitting timber planking, wheel guides were installed early in the life of the bridge to help horse and bullock drawn vehicles drive in a straight line on the timber boards.

- 1883 – a galvanised iron fence was installed between the single railway track and the single lane road portion of the bridge. Around this time a warning bell was also installed to warn of approaching trains. This was installed after several incidents on the bridge involving livestock on the bridge being disturbed by passing trains.

- 1907 – new double track railway bridge was opened and the single railway line was removed from Victoria Bridge. The deck was also reconstructed to accommodate two lanes of traffic.

- 1934 – Approach spans and abutments reconstructed in steel and concrete