King Street Bridge (Melbourne)
Encyclopedia
King Street, Melbourne
King Street is a main street in the Melbourne central business district. King Street is part of the Pacific Highway, and used to be part of National Route 1 until the city by-pass road linking the Monash Freeway with the Westgate Freeway was completed...
over the Yarra River
Yarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The bridge continues south as an elevated viaduct, with the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex built around it in later years.
History
The bridge was designed in 1959 by Utah Australia for the Country Roads BoardCountry Roads Board
The Country Roads Board was the government authority responsible for the construction and maintenance of main roads in the State of Victoria, Australia between 1913 and 1983. Its first chairman was William Calder who remained in charge until his death in 1928...
, and constructed over the next two years, being opened on 12 April 1961. It was of a welded, deck-girder, suspended-span construction with spans up to 160 feet (48.8 m) long.
Soon after completion, on 10 July 1962, one span collapsed under the weight of a 47 ton semi-trailer
Semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. A large proportion of its weight is supported by a road tractor, a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly, or the tail of another trailer...
, though the weight was within the bridge limits. The failure was due to brittle fracture on a very cold Melbourne winter day. The south end of the bridge has been undergoing differential settlement between the approach ramps resting on fill, and the suspended section supported by bored piles. The embarrassing incident was widely satirised at the time; most notably by the Melbourne TV clowns Zig and Zag
Zig and Zag (Australian performers)
Zig and Zag – in real life Jack Perry and Doug McKenzie – were a clown duo who appeared on Australian television from 1956 to 1969 in Melbourne, beginning with Peters Fun Fair...
and was the inspiration for a Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
radio comedy
The Idiot Weekly
The Idiot Weekly was a radio programme made by the Australian Broadcasting Commission.-Background:Transcriptions of the Goon Show were broadcast on Australian radio from late 1955. When Spike Milligan visited his parents in Woy Woy in 1958, the Australian Broadcasting Commission signed him for a...
.
As originally constructed the bridge had 8 lanes across the Yarra River - 2 through lanes in each direction connecting King Street to Kingsway, in addition to 2 lanes on each side that connected to Yarra Bank Road. At the south end north facing on and off ramps connected to Whiteman Street, and the running lanes from the viaduct descend to ground level, with tram route 55
Melbourne tram route 55
Tram route 55 is a public transport service in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from the corner of Bell Street and Melville Road in West Coburg to the Domain Road Interchange - Domain Road and St Kilda Road east of the city....
emerging from City Road to the median strip. In later years the development of Crown Casino closed Yarra Bank Road, and the bridge ramps were connected to the basement carpark of the complex.