McGees Bridge
- 42.806388888889147.525833333330Koordinaten: 42 ° 48 ' 23 " S, 147 ° 31' 33" E
Pittwater ( Tasman )
The McGees Bridge is a bridge in the southeast of the Australian state of Tasmania. The Tasman Highway ( A3) runs across the bridge and connects the airport of Hobart and the Seven Mile Beach south of the Bay Pittwater with Midway Point and Sorell the city on the north side of the bay.
From Hobart from the McGees Bridge thus opens up two important sights of Tasmania, the historic town of Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula and the picturesque East Coast of the island.
History
The Tasmanian State Government already decided in mid -19th century the creation of a direct road link from Hobart to Sorell that the Pittwater cross and should thus shorten the travel time considerably. It was decided to overcome two-thirds of the bay (about 1,000 m) with a dam and to span the rest with a bridge.
Australia's first prestressed concrete girder bridge was not completed until 1957. A special feature of this bridge was the creation of cavities by introducing inflated tires which were removed after hardening of the concrete. The bridge was designed for a lifetime of 50 years. In 2001 it was recognized, however, that the penetration of chlorides led to serious corrosion of concrete. The Tasmanian Government commissioned the John Holland P / L, to plan a new bridge and build.
The new bridge will be the first precast segmental bridge road on the channel type outside of France and the United States be .. The AU $ 20 million expensive bridge was the largest single infrastructure project, which had the Tasmanian government funded for more than 15 years ..
The new bridge was named after Dr. Rodney William McGee, who died after a long battle with cancer on February 1, 2002 at the age of 47 years. At this time he was chief engineer of the Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources and a nationally and internationally recognized capacity in bridge ..
The project was characterized by an extensive participation of local authorities and the special efforts to protect the environment, as pulling the bridge through a wetland of international importance and a designated conservation area.
The Premier of Tasmania, Jim Bacon, was present at the official opening of the bridge, as the Minister for Infrastructure, Jim Cox, the Mayor of Sorell, Carmel Torenius and family members of Rod McGee.