Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge

- 32.669202152.168262Koordinaten: 32 ° 40 ' 9.1 "S, 152 ° 10' 5.7 " E

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Myall River

The Tea Gardens - Hawks Nest Bridge, called the Singing Bridge ( German " Singing Bridge ") spans the Myall River and connects the two settlements Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest in the Great Lakes Council, New South Wales, Australia. She has created her nickname of the buzzers, the bridge under certain wind conditions.

History

By 1928, a ferry service, passengers and later vehicles between the two settlements on the northern edge of Port Stephens on the Myall River began to transport. However, the waiting time reached unacceptable lengths of up to six hours, which justified the need for a bridge to holiday periods. The Tea Gardens - Hawks Nest Bridge was completed on April 6, 1974 and opened by the Minister of Public Works of the State of New South Wales. The construction cost of the bridge amounted to 1.2 million Australian dollars. The bridge was placed immediately downstream of the ferry and replaced it.

In August 2004, extensive renovations to the bridge were performed due to advanced delamination and rusting, especially the first and last bridge piers as well as to the associated timber heads.

The bridge is now part of a scenic road ( Scenic Route ), which emanates from the Pacific Highway and a car ferry at Bombah point leads back to him. It is the only permanent road connection not only according to Hawks Nest itself, but also in the southern part of the Myall Lakes National Park. At holiday times to cross up to 433 vehicles per hour and up to 8,000 vehicles per day the bridge ( 2006).

Construction

The Singing Bridge is a girder bridge made ​​of prestressed concrete and ordinary reinforced concrete with a total length of 304.3 meters. It consists of a total of nine beams: the seven inner beams have a length of 35.3 meters each, the two outer beams are each 28.3 meters long. All eight piers forming on pillar islands in the Myall River. At high tide, the passage height for ships is 10.6 meters.

The bridge carries a two-lane road with a width of 7.3 meters and two narrow sidewalks with a width of 1.5 meters. Over each bridge piers as well as at the beginning and end of the bridge street lights in pairs tightly integrated into the bridge.

Special

With strong south-westerly winds that blow approximately parallel to the bridge, caused largely audible beeps, brought in the name of the building the Singing Bridge ( "Singing Bridge"). Here the railing acts as Aeolian harp.

For several years, the bridge lights were like unused resting and sleeping place of spectacle pelicans. After increased complaints from pedestrians and motorists who had been victims of bird droppings, 2004 soft spines were attached to the lanterns that keep the pelicans from landing. A petition for re removing the spines of about 600 residents who felt robbed of a tourist attraction, was ultimately rejected by the Great Lakes Council. The pelicans rest and sleep today near the bridge to the boat ramps and in port.

Early morning and late evening you can watch from the bridge, a group of dolphins in their daily walk. Leave every morning about 30 bottlenose dolphins swim around the natural harbor and the Yacaaba Peninsula, only to dissipate into the Tasman Sea. In the evening they return by the same route back to their roosts in the side arms of the Myall River back.

At night also koalas were observed crossing the bridge. At the northeastern end of the bridge, the Jean Shaw Koala Reserve, a Koala sanctuary which is part of this network, with the Myall Lakes is located. The koala population of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest is classified as endangered by the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 the country New South Wales and now includes only eleven or twelve individuals.