The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The Sydney Harbour Bridge carries rail, vehicular, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. In combination with the Sydney Opera House, the vista of these two landmarks has long been the iconic image of Sydney known all over the world. The bridge was the city's tallest structure until 1967. According to Guinness World Records, it is the widest long-span bridge in the world, the highest steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 429.6 feet (134 meters) above the harbor, and the fourth-longest spanning-arch bridge in the world. In 1815, it was proposed that a bridge be built across the harbor but nothing came of this. In 1890, a royal commission determined that there was a heavy level of ferry traffic in the Sydney Harbour area, best relieved with the construction of a bridge. Pre-construction began in 1923 with the demolition of 800 homes and construction of the bridge itself began in December of 1928. Construction of the arch of the bridge began in 1929, and once the arch halves were completed the cables used to hold them up were slowly released to bring the two halves of the arch together. On August19, 1930 they were joined and have remained joined since then. The road and the two sets of tram and railway tracks were completed in 1931, along with power and telephone lines, and water, gas and drainage pipes. On January 19, 1932 the first test train safely crossed the bridge.