The Morell Bridge is a bridge 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 South Yarra

South Yarra, Victoria

South Yarra is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Stonnington and Melbourne...

, 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...

, 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...

. Completed in 1899 by John Monash

John Monash

General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...

 and J. T. N. Anderson

Joshua Thomas Noble Anderson

Joshua Thomas Noble Anderson was an engineer practising in Melbourne, Australia, and New Zealand during the difficult times in the Depressions of the 1890s and 1930s, but still practised innovative engineering in these periods.-Early career and migration to Australia:Anderson, known commonly by...

, it is notable for being the first bridge in 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....

 to be built using reinforced concrete.

It features decorations on the three arch spans, including large dragon motifs and ornamental Victorian lights. The gutters on the bridge are cobbled bluestone

Bluestone

Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:*a feldspathic sandstone in the U.S. and Canada;*limestone in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S...

, with a single lane bitumen strip running down the middle. The Bridge is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register

Victorian Heritage Register

The Victorian Heritage Register lists places of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 1995 which establishes Heritage Victoria as the permit authority...

.

Orignally known as the Anderson Street bridge, it was named the Morell Bridge in 1936 after Sir Stephen Morell
who was a prominent Victorian businessman and Lord Mayor of Melbourne between 1926 and 1928.

On June 7, 1998 the bridge was closed to motor vehicles as part of the CityLink

CityLink

CityLink is a system of tolled urban Highways in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two existing freeways and construct two new Toll roads—labelled the Western and Southern Links—directly linking a number of existing freeways to...

 project. It is currently used by cyclist and pedestrian traffic, connecting the Royal Botanic Gardens

Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 38 hectares of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over...

 to the Olympic Park

Olympic Park, Melbourne

The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct is a series of sports venues and stadia, located in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. The precinct is situated around 3 km east of the Melbourne city centre, between the suburbs of East Melbourne and Richmond, and close to the north-eastern bank of...

precinct.