Sydney Harbour Bridge

Australia is known all over the globe for several reasons. The natural beauties of the country and the wild life are always on the top of the list. But when thinking about Australia there are two super structures that come to mind, The Sydney Opera House and The Sydney Harbour Bridge. In this short report it can be found small history along with a short description about the Sydney Bridge.II. Main Body II. 1 History The first plans to build a bridge actually goes back to year of 1815, but it wasn’t until 1922, after being delayed manly because of the WWI, that the parliament approved the laws for the construction of this massive structure. The actual work didn’t begin until 1924 and took 8 years, a 1400 men work force, and several tragic accidents to finally finish it (Australian Government).The official opening ceremony was on 19 March 1932, were the Premier of New South Wales was supposed to cut the ribbon, but a man in military clothe riding a horse, slash the ribbon before the ceremony began, declaring the bridge opened in the name of the people of Australia. II. 2 Description Also known as the â€Å"Coathanger† by many residents of the city of Sydney, the Harbour Bridge is, until the date, the world’s largest, but not longest steel arch bridge.This 53,000 tons structure is located in the Sydney Harbor, uniting the Central Business District (or CBD) at Dawes Point with the commercial and residential areas in the North Shore at Milsons Point (Wikipedia 2010). The bridge is about 500 meters long. Today carries eight traffic lanes, two rail lines, one in each direction, a pedestrian pathway on the eastern side and a cycleway on the western side of the bridge. The arch summit is about 135 meters above the average harbour water level. There are four pylons at each end of the arch that weren’t part of the initial design and they don’t actually fulfil any structural purpose.These structures were added latter on to improve the appearance of the bridge, but now they were all put into use, the most famous being the one located in the south east of the bridge. This particular pylon now holds a three stories museum with the bridge history (Wikipedia 2010). III. Conclusion As can be seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge not only works as a mean to cross the harbour in a more efficient way, but it has become one of the most important landmarks of Australia, thanks to its architecture, beautiful views and tourist attractions.It doesn’t matter if you’ve been there or not, when somebody talks about Sydney, is almost inevitable but to think about this structure. ?IV. Bibliography Wikipedia 2010, Sydney Harbour Bridge, viewed 2 December 2010,   http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge