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Westgate Bridge by Jack and Ben Click here to view a video showing the Westgate Bridge |
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The West Gate Bridge is the 2nd longest bridge in Australia. It crosses the Yarra River at mouth of Port Phillip Bay. It joins Geelong and Western Melbourne to Melbourne. |
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Work on the bridge first started in 1968 and it was finished in 1978. The bridge cost $202 million dollars to build. A tunnel instead of a bridge was going to be built but they thought it might be risky for vehicles carrying flammable objects which might catch fire. | |
| The planned bridge was to be 54 meters high. When it opened there was a toll of sixty cents for each car. It took 40 years to pay off the cost of the bridge. When it was paid for it became owned by the Government of Victoria who stopped the toll. |
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In 1970 when they were still building the bridge, some of the bridge collapsed and 35 workers died. The span that collapsed weighed 2000 tones. When the bridge was being built 30 bolts were removed which caused the bridge to collapse. It cost and extra $31 million to rebuild the collapsed section. | |
| The Westgate Bridge is a cable-stayed steel box girder bridge. It's over all length is 2582.6 meters it has 6 lanes including 1 brake down lane in both directions. It is a traffic only bridge which is used for cars, buses and trucks. No pedestrians are allowed on the bridge. |
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On one
side of the river near the Westgate Bridge there is a memorial
park. At the memorial park there is a span of the bridge to
remind people of the tragedy of the 35 workers that died in the
collapsing part of the bridge. On the other side of the
bridge there is a memorial on one of the legs of the bridge that has the
names of the people that died when they were building the bridge.
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