Batman Bridge

Batman Bridge
use	Road traffic
Convicted	Batman highway ( )
Crossing of	Tamar River
place	Sidmouth (Tasmania)
construction	Cable-stayed bridge
overall length	442 m
width	10.3 m
Longest span	206 m
height	91 m
Clear height	28.65 m above MHW
start of building	1966
opening	May 28, 1968
planner	G Maunsell & Partners
	location

-41.216944444444 146.91416666667Coordinates: 41 ° 13 ′ 1 ″ S , 146 ° 54 ′ 51 ″ E

The Batman Bridge is the oldest cable-stayed bridge in Australia , which leads the Batman Highway (A73) over the Tamar River in the north of the state of Tasmania . The highway is the connection between the West Tamar Highway (A7) and the East Tamar Highway (A8). It is named after John Batman (1801–1839), a businessman from Launceston and co-founder of Melbourne .

The two-lane bridge begins in the east at Whirlpool Reach in the George Town Municipality and ends in the west halfway between the towns of Kayena and Deviot , both in the West Tamar Municipality . Below the structure is the clubhouse of the Deviot sailing club.

Design features

The Batman Bridge, planned by G Maunsell & Partners and built between 1966 and 1968, was the first larger cable-stayed bridge with an inclined pylon . The bridge consists of a steel lattice girder that hangs from a pylon and is additionally supported by four pendulum piers on the east side . The longest span is 206 m, the two abutments are 432 m apart.

For the superstructure one was steel truss with an orthotropic plate chosen which is very much lighter than a concrete beam, but was a lot more sweat site work necessary.

The 91 m high A-shaped pylon is made of steel and measures 10.3 m in width. It was built on the west bank of the Tamar River on a diabase rock base and carries 78% of the bridge's weight. The pylon is articulated on the foundation and inclined at 20 ° towards the river. From its tip, three stay cables are stretched to the sides of the track girder, which due to the inclination of the pylon have a shorter length and a more favorable angle to the bridge deck than with a vertical pylon. The back of the pylon is anchored in the ground with a rope next to the roadway.

The east bank of the Tamar River consists of soft clay, which would not have been suitable as a foundation for another pylon, which is why pendulum piers were used here . The pile foundation of the pillars had to be driven up to 18 m into the soft clay soil.

Batman Bridge from the east bank
Batman Bridge from the street

Web links

Commons : Batman Bridge - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Batman Bridge. In: Structurae
B 73 Highway on ozroads.com

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Leonardo Fernández Troyano: Bridge Engineering. A global perspective. Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puentes, Thomas Telford 2003, ISBN 0-7277-3215-3 , p. 613
↑ Batman Bridge, Tamar River from eastern bank on Panoramio , accessed on Jan 31, 2012 - Image showing the details of the pillars on the east side.
↑ Douglas Ewington: Geology of the Batman Bridge . QVMAG. October 23, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved on February 26, 2013.

[Fernandez-1] Leonardo Fernández Troyano: Bridge Engineering. A global perspective. Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puentes, Thomas Telford 2003, ISBN 0-7277-3215-3 , p. 613

[2] Batman Bridge, Tamar River from eastern bank on Panoramio , accessed on Jan 31, 2012 - Image showing the details of the pillars on the east side.

[3] Douglas Ewington: Geology of the Batman Bridge . QVMAG. October 23, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved on February 26, 2013.