| Product: |
Sydney Harbour Bridge |
| Date: |
03/05/02 (1299 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Eiffel Remoulded.
Disadvantages: The Increase In Private Vehicle Crossings.
In many ways the Sydney Harbour Bridge is more imposing than the Australian capitals more famous landmark the Opera House. Heresy scream the purists but as you arrive at Sydney Harbour it is hard to verbalise the spectacle that is the thousands of tonnes of steel climbing into the clouds. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is now in its 70th year but remains a wonderful example of innovative engineering.
Spanning Sydney Harbour at its narrowest point, the Bridge connects the Central Business District to the cities North Shore. The Bridge is wide enough to accommodate four lanes of traffic as well as a railway line and two pedestrian walkways. Tolls have been in existence since day one and the current charge is $3 each way. This doesn't seem to dissuade users, however, as the number of vehicle crossings per day is close to a quarter of a million.
If you are visiting Sydney taking the train to Circular Quay is often the first stop on your itinerary. As you leave the station there are so many attractions within walking distance that is often too much for the senses take in. Along with the Opera House and the Bridge there is the wonderful green belt that is the Botanical Gardens. The revitalised Docklands of Darling Harbour is only a mere skip away as well. For sheer spectacle though it the Harbour Bridge that will catch your eye (the Opera House is smaller than you might think!) and eventually your heart. The Bridge has remained imperious while an emerging city searched for its own distinct personality and its people stopped looking to Europe for inspiration.
Standing in the Rocks area of the harbour it can look like the Bridge is part of a huge canvas designed by movie moguls for their next big hit. It doesn't look real standing there like a scalectrix fanatics most impressive creation magnified one thousand times.
THE HISTORY
The project to buil
d the Sydney Harbour Bridge took 8 years in total. An army of workers were required in the construction and such jobs were highly prized at a time of severe economic depression, so much so that the Bridge was dubbed the 'iron lung' because of the lifeline it threw to the city's struggling inhabitants.
With Australia's colonial history it wasn't much of a surprise that the contract to build the Bridge was awarded to a British engineering company called Dormon and Long. 200 stone masons even travelled from Scotland to cut the stone for the pylons and incredibly had a town called Moruya purpose built for them. 80% of the steel for the Bridge was imported from the UK which must have meant huge logistical headaches as the trip by boat took up to 8 weeks. The rest of the steel was manufactured locally.
Controversy was rife during construction. The entire budget was 4.2 million pounds (the currency of the time was sterling) but by completion this had more than doubled. Worse still was the fact that 16 workers were to die on the project. The misery didn't end there however as 800 households on either side of the Harbour were evicted without compensation to make way for construction.
The drama continued right up to the day of the opening ceremony. A right wing extremist named Francis De Groot arrived on horse back just as the ceremonial ribbon was about to be cut. Drawing his sabre he slashed the ribbon in two drawing a temporary halt to proceedings while a new one was located. Incredibly he escaped with a fine of 9 pounds for a breach of the peace.
At the time it was unveiled the financiers of the project believed that the Bridge would would be the longest of its kind in the world. The startling discovery that the newly opened Bayonne Bridge in New York was 70 centimetres longer came as a crushing blow.
Over the years the Bridge ha
s had a say in the events that have shaped the city the Sydney of today. Way back in 1986 two protesters somehow scaled to the top of the bridge to hang a defiant banner to 'Stop Nuclear Testing Now'. The Olympic spirit was brought to life when a replica of the five Olympic rings were depicted using 170,000 lights attached to the Bridge's steel beams. New Years Eve 1999 saw the message of Eternity emblazoned in giant lettering.
THE FACTS
* Even though the shape of the Bridge would lead you to believe otherwise there are in fact no curved pieces of metal in its makeup.
* Applying 3 coats of paint to the bridge took over 270,000 litres of
the stuff.
* During construction 8 workers fell to their death (not sure how the other 8 were killed). It never dawned on the construction firm to install safety nets. Perhaps today's exorbitant insurance rates are not such a bad thing after all! In contrast San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge had safety nets dubbed 'The Half Way To Hell Club' installed to catch falling workers.
* The support pylons that spread the length of the structure are
superfluous. They were added to ease the concerns of a public unwilling to risk life and limb to get to the other side of the harbour!
* At the height of construction more than 1,600 workers were directly
employed on the project.
* The Bridge spans just over 500 metres compared to the Golden Gates'
monstrous 1,300 metres.
* With the changes in the seasons the Bridge expands and contracts to
a degree of 18cm. Lucky then, that it has over 100 moving parts to overcome this potentially disastrous condition.
* The most famous to person to work on the bridge (as a rigger) was
actor Paul Hogan.
>
THE CLIMB
One of Sydney most publicised attractions is the climb to the top arch of the bridge and back down again. Paul Cave, an Australian entrepreneur first thought of the idea after escorting a group to the top as part of a sightseeing tour of Sydney for visiting businessmen. That event led to 9 years of planning for Cave and $20 million to satisfy the local councils safety concerns for the general public who wished to partake in the climb.
The journey from the ground to the clouds and back down again takes 3 hours in total. The climb's are organised to take place in groups of up to a dozen people. At any time there can be several groups at various degrees of gradient. From the ground the brave souls look no bigger than matchstick men with each group seemingly moving perfectly as a unit (although its hard to spot nervous shivers from such a distance!). All climbers wear solemn grey overalls and are locked onto a safety cable that is secured to a rail that runs the full length to the top.
Prices for the climb are cheapest during the week at $125 (75 euro) per person. Weekend and night time climbs cost a prohibitive $150. The first ascent begins at 5am with runs (well walks really!) throughout the day until 2am. With a staggering 1,300 making the pilgrimage each day it is no wonder that 750,000 have worn the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb T-shirt with pride. Today the Bridge climb is a multi million dollar business and there is talk that tours may soon run round the clock.
THE BUDGET ALTERNATIVE
For those of you with dubious financial worth there are a few cheapskate alternatives to doing the climb. There is a pedestrian walkway that stretches on either side all the way along the bridge. For those looking for a unique experience in the crossing there is much to saviour in the walk. Th
e feeling of being up unnaturally high is certainly evident. We felt dizzy with the constant stream of traffic throwing in discernible wobbles that had me at least clinging to the sides like a baby koala.
The view is wonderful once you find a hole in the protective guards that is there to dissuade those with suicidal tendencies (they were installed less than 18 months after the opening of the bridge as a result of 40 suicides). Watching the toy boats pass underneath is a joy and the perfect model of an Opera House in the near distance has you realising what a truly great city Sydney is. For an uncluttered view it is possible to climb one of the four pylons (on the Rocks side) for $5. Here you get almost as high as the intrepid climbers but there is at least some decent leg room to calm those height jitters.
For those enervated by the thought of walking there is always the train or car option. Of course the views are obstructed (why not pull the emergency cord to get a lasting impression, only messing!) and nothing can compare to the fresh air experience but at least lazy people have the opportunity to partially enjoy the view.
WHAT A FELINE
Legend has it that an army of white furry cats have made the towering metalwork their home. Stories of people seeing little balls of fluff skirt up and down the beams are commonplace. The cats whose feet never touch the ground are supposed to be deaf. Quite how the cats manage to survive is a question that only the Loch Ness monster himself could answer.
THE FUTURE
In terms of geographical spread Sydney is the biggest city in the world. This has ultimately led to a huge proportion of the population living north of the Harbour. The exponential growth of daily traffic across the main crossing point is unsustainable, so much so, that it is predicted th
at within a couple of decades several alternatives to the Bridge will have to be put in place (whether under or over ground). Whatever the future holds it is extremely unlikely that nothing the dreamers can imagine will overshadow Sydney's greatest shadow maker.
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aefra - 04/05/02 If I gave all my reaction to this op the superlatives would run off the page. Brilliant and very readable. |
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