Bridgewater Bridge
Bridgewater Bridge | |
|---|---|
The Bridgewater Bridge | |
| Coordinates | 42°44′42″S 147°13′33″E / 42.74500°S 147.22583°E |
| Carries | Midland Highway |
| Crosses | Derwent River |
| Locale | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Begins | Granton |
| Ends | Bridgewater |
| Named for | Bridgewater |
| Owner | Department of State Growth |
| Preceded by | Blair Street Bridge |
| Followed by | Bowen Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | box girder |
| Material | Concrete |
| Total length | 1.2 km (0.7 mi) |
| Clearance below | 16 m (52.5 ft) |
| No. of lanes | 4 |
| History | |
| Constructed by | McConnell Dowell |
| Construction start | October 2022 |
| Opened | 1 June 2025 |
| Replaces | Truss bridge with vertical lift (1946-2025) |
| Location | |
The Bridgewater Bridge is a 1.2-kilometre-long (0.7 mi) concrete box girder bridge that carries the Midland Highway across the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. This bridge connects the Hobart suburbs of Bridgewater and Granton. It accommodates a four-lane highway and a grade-separated footpath and cycle lane. It is the fifth such bridge at this location to carry this name.
The bridge was funded by the Australian and Tasmanian Governments at a cost of $786 million and constructed by McConnell Dowell. it is expected to service 22,000 trips per day. It is the first bridge at the location to have a marine navigation clearance of greater than 16 metres - consistent with the Bowen Bridge.
It was opened in June 2025 to replace the fourth Bridgewater Bridge (Bridgewater Bridge and Causeway), a steel truss vertical-lift bridge and specially-built causeway. This was a two-lane road bridge that also carried the South Railway Line until it's closure in 2014. This bridge had been in operation since 1946, and was the oldest surviving lift span bridge in Australia; lifting of the bridge caused considerable traffic delays in the bridge's final years.