Church Street Bridge

Church Street Bridge
Carries	Road, trams, pedestrians
Crosses	Yarra River, Monash Freeway
Locale	Melbourne, Australia
Design	Reinforced concrete arch
Opened	1923

The Church Street Bridge is a historic road bridge over the Yarra River and the Monash Freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It links Church Street in Richmond on the north bank with Chapel Street in Prahran on the south.

History

The first bridge on the site was an iron girder bridge built in 1857. Purchased from the British government at the end of the Crimean War,^[1] this bridge had a 210 feet (64 m) span with side trusses being solid riveted iron 10 feet (3.0 m) high, designed to prevent Russian snipers from killing British troops. The bridge was dismantled and reconstructed with stone buttresses on the site.^[2]

The current bridge was designed by Harold Desbrowe Annear and opened in 1923, having three reinforced concrete arches supported by piled foundations.^[3] As originally constructed all three spans crossed the river, but with the construction of the South Eastern Arterial in the 1960s, the river was diverted away from under the northern span, and the four lane road was built there instead. This method of construction reduced the clearance available to traffic on the road underneath, and in the 1990s in conjunction with the CityLink project the arch elements of this span were removed, and replaced by new elements 0.6 m higher at the crown and 1.2 m higher at either end.^[3] Specialised monitoring was required during the process to manage the changing loads on the elements of the bridge.

In January 2007 rehabilitation work was carried out by VicRoads, including waterproofing the concrete deck, replacing the tram tracks, and general resurfacing. Stage two commenced in April 2007 and is due for completion in July 2008, and involved replacement of balustrades and new traffic barriers at the kerbs.^[4] The first stage of works had required a total road and tramway closure.^[5]

The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and is included a Heritage Overlay.^[6]

References

1. ^ "The missing girders". Yarra Libraries. www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au. http://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/yarra_melbourne/Richmond/8419.html. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
2. ^ City of Yarra. "Private and Public Transportation". City of Yarra Heritage Review: Thematic History. 209.85.173.104. p. page 60. http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/Planning/Strategic%2520Planning/pdf/HeritageJune07/Yarra%2520Heritage%2520Review/Vol%25201%2520-%2520Thematic%2520History%2520-%252059%2520to%252092.pdf. Retrieved 2008-07-09. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Church Street Bridge". www.slopeindicator.com. http://www.slopeindicator.com/stories/churchstreetbridge.html. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
4. ^ "Church Street Bridge Works". VicRoads. www.vicroads.vic.gov.au. http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/RoadsAndProjects/RoadProjects/InnerCity/ChurchStreetBridgeWorks-Stagetwo.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
5. ^ "Summer in the city spells gridlock as repairs rule the roads". The Age. theage.com.au. January 9, 2007. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/gridlock-as-repairs-rule-the-roads/2007/01/08/1168104922264.html. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
6. ^ "Church Street Bridge, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H1917, Heritage Overlay HO19,HO239". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/heritagevic#detail_places;11458. 

Coordinates: 37°50′2.9″S 144°59′47.8″E / 37.834139°S 144.996611°E / -37.834139; 144.996611