Tasman Bridge

The Tasman Bridge is a five-lane road bridge that carries the Tasman Highway across the Derwent River and the Southern rail line, located near the central business district of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Including approaches, the bridge has a total length of 1,396 metres and it provides the main traffic route from the CBD to the eastern shore. The bridge has a separated pedestrian footway on each side. There is no dedicated lane for bicycles; however, steps to the pedestrian footway were replaced with ramps in 2010.

History

In the 1950s with the development of the Eastern shore, it was decided to build a larger bridge; the old Hobart Bridge faced increasing difficulty in managing the larger volumes of traffic that came with development, and constantly raising the lift span for shipping was disruptive. The total cost of the new bridge in conjunction with approach ramps and Lindisfarne Interchange was in the area of A£7 million. Construction commenced in May 1960 and the bridge was first opened to traffic (2 lanes only) on 18 August 1964. The bridge was completed with all four lanes operational on 23 December 1964. It was officially opened on 18 March 1965 by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. During peak construction a labour force of over 400 men was employed on site.

Address: Tasman Hwy, Montagu Bay TAS 7018, Australia
Clearance below: 46 m
Total length: 1,395 m
Height: 60 m
Construction started: May 1960