Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge (Sydney’s greatest tourism icon) – on a par with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, New York’s Statue of Liberty, London’s Tower Bridge and the Eiffel Tower in Paris – took eight years to build and opened in March 1932. Once nicknamed the ‘coathanger’ it is now simply called ‘the bridge’ by Sydneysiders.
Linking the city with North Sydney, it carries eight lanes of road traffic and two railway tracks which form part of the city’s rail suburban network.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened on March 19th 1932 after six years of construction. The bridge is made of 53000 tons of steel and contains 6 million hand driven rivets. The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields. The Bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun. You will see them on either side of the bridge at the footings of the Pylons. Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s largest (but not longest) steel arch bridge, and, in its beautiful harbour location, has become a renowned international symbol of Australia.