Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge

Coordinates: 32 ° 40 ′ 9 ″  S , 152 ° 10 ′ 6 ″  O

Singing Bridge
Official name	Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge
use	Traffic, pedestrians
Crossing of	Myall River
place	between Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest , New South Wales, Australia
construction	Girder bridge
overall length	304.3 m
width	10.3 m
Longest span	35.3 m
height	10.6 m
building-costs	1.2 million  AUD
opening	April 6, 1974
location

The Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge , called 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 . It gets its nickname from the buzzing sounds that the bridge makes under certain wind conditions.

history

Around 1928 a ferry service began to transport passengers and later also vehicles between the two settlements on the northern edge of Port Stephens over the Myall River. However, during holiday periods the waiting time reached unacceptable lengths of up to six hours, which justified the need for a bridge. The Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge was completed on April 6, 1974 and opened by the Secretary of State for Public Works 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 connection and replaced it.

In August 2004, extensive renovation work was carried out on the bridge due to advanced delamination and rusting , in particular on the first and last bridge piers and the associated beam heads.

The bridge is now part of a scenic route that starts from the Pacific Highway and returns to it via a car ferry at Bombah Point . It is the only permanent road link not only to Hawks Nest itself, but also to the southern part of Myall Lakes National Park . During vacation times, up to 433 vehicles per hour and up to 8,000 vehicles per day cross the bridge (as of 2006).

construction

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

The bridge carries a two-lane road with a width of 7.3 meters and two narrow walkways, each 1.5 meters wide. Street lamps are firmly integrated into the bridge in pairs above each bridge pillar and at the beginning and end of the bridge .

particularities

Strong south-westerly winds, which blow roughly parallel to the bridge, produce buzzing sounds that can be heard from far away, which gave the structure the name Singing Bridge .

Spectacled Pelican in the harbor at Tea Gardens

For several years the bridge lanterns were a popular resting and sleeping place for spectacled pelicans . After increased complaints from pedestrians and motorists who fell victim to bird droppings, soft spikes were placed on the lanterns in 2004 to keep the pelicans from landing. A petition to remove the spines from around 600 local residents who felt deprived of a tourist attraction was ultimately rejected by the Great Lakes Council . The pelicans rest and sleep today near the bridge on the boat ramps and in the harbor.

Early in the morning and late in the evening you can watch a group of dolphins on their daily migration from the bridge . Each morning around 30 bottlenose dolphins leave the natural harbor and swim around the Yacaaba Peninsula , then disperse in the Tasman Sea . In the evening they return to their sleeping places in the side arms of the Myall River on the same route.

Koalas have also been seen crossing the bridge at night . At the northeast end of the bridge is the Jean Shaw Koala Reserve , a koala sanctuary that is part of a biotope network with the Myall Lakes . The Koala population of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest is classified as endangered under the Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 of the country New South Wales and today comprises only eleven or twelve individuals.

and display information about the image

Panoramic view from the Singing Bridge in northwest direction along the Myall River. On the left is the port of Tea Gardens, on the right the koala reserve of Hawks Nest. The boat ramps on both sides show the old ferry connection.

literature

• Brian A Engel, Jan Winn and John Wark: Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest and Northern Port Stephens . private publication, 2000, ISBN 0-9577641-1-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Brian A Engel, Janis Winn and John Wark: Tea Gardens Walk. Brian A Engel, private publication, March 2001, p. 6 , accessed April 4, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Annual Report 1973-74. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Department of Public Works, New South Wales, p. 8 , archived from the original on October 28, 2009 ; accessed on April 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Tea Gardens Bridge Repairs. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: Great Lakes Civic Square, Issue August 69 , 2004, p. 1 , archived from the original on August 25, 2006 ; accessed on April 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Traffic Management Plan Tea Gardens - Part A. (PDF) (No longer available online.) RoadNet New South Wales, March 27, 2008, p. 18 , formerly in the original ; accessed on April 4, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
5. ↑ ^{a b} Annual Report 1973-74. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Department of Public Works, New South Wales, p. 33 , archived from the original on October 28, 2009 ; accessed on April 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Map of Lower Myall River Area. (PDF) (No longer available online.) New South Wales Maritime, April 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on April 4, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
7. ^ Ordinary Meeting Minutes. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Great Lakes Council Meeting, August 10, 2004, p. 41 , archived from the original on September 13, 2009 ; accessed on April 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Tourist Information Hawks Nest, Great Lakes. Cartoscope Pty Limited, accessed April 4, 2009 . 
9. ↑ Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens Endangered Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) population. (PDF; 446 kB) Approved NSW Recovery Plan, Department of Environment and Conservation (New South Wales), July 2003, p. 9 , accessed on April 4, 2009 . 
10. ↑ Popular Walks in The Great Lakes. (No longer available online.) Great Lakes Tourism, archived from the original on May 4, 2009 ; accessed on April 4, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Tea Gardens Bridge , State Library of New South Wales photographs from 1974 (page 2)