Bolte Bridge
Spanning the Yarra River and Victoria Harbour in the Docklands precinct to the west of the Melbourne CBentral Business District, the Henry Bolte Bridge forms part of the CityLink system of tollroads that connects the Tullamarine Freeway from the northern suburbs with the West Gate Freeway and the Domain and Burnley tunnels to the Monash Freeway and the south eastern suburbs. A large twin Cantilever bridge, it was designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall and constructed over three years from 1996 to 1999 and cost $75 million. It has four spans with two main spans of 173 m and side spans of 72 m, giving an overall bridge length of 490 m. The bridge supports 6 lanes of traffic with access prohibited to pedestrians and cyclists. It was named after former Premier of Victoria, Sir Henry Bolte.The bridge is owned by CityLink and was built for head contractor Transurban by Baulderstone Hornibrook. It is one of the largest balanced cantilever cast in situ box girder bridges in Australia. The superstructure is built as two independent bridges of variable depth, prestressed concrete box girders, separated by a 1.15 m clear gap between the structures. Either side of the bridge rise twin 'Gateway Towers' to a height of 140 metres (459.3 ft) midway across the river which do not structurally contribute to the bridge. It has four spans with two main spans of 173 metres (567.6 ft) and side spans of 72 metres (236.2 ft), giving an overall bridge length of 490 metres (1,607.6 ft). The bridge supports six lanes of automobile traffic. Access is prohibited to cyclists and pedestrians.
Other bridges in Australia of similar construction are the Gateway Bridge, Brisbane and Mooney Mooney Bridge near Gosford, north of Sydney.
