ANZAC Bridge, Sydney

The ANZAC Bridge is the longest bridge in Australia supported by cables. It is the main link between the Sydney City Centre and Glebe Island that forms part of the West suburbs.

The ANZAC Bridge replaced the older Glebe Island Bridge. It was constructed by the engineering firm, Baulderstone, and was inaugurated in 1995. It stands 805 meters long and 32.2 meters wide. The Pylons are made of concrete and are 120 meters high. They support the deck through two planes of stay cables reinforced by thin stabilising cables. The bridge carries automobile, pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The northern side of the bridge has a pedestrian and bicycle path that is constantly patrolled and monitored as a counter terrorism measure.

The bridge was named the ANZAC Bridge in 1998 on the 80th anniversary of the Armistice Day in memory of the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who served in World War I. The Australian flag is mounted on top of the bridge’s eastern pylon and the New Zealand flag atop the western pylon. On ANZAC day in the year 2000, a bronze memorial statue of an Australian soldier, colloquially called Digger, was placed on the western end and in 2008 a sculpture of a New Zealand soldier was added directly opposite the Digger figure.