Belmore Bridge/Hunter River - 1964 - Maitland, NSW, Australia
S 32° 43.780 E 151° 33.202
56H E 364445 N 6377755
Embedded into this two-lane concrete bridge on Belmore Road, over the Hunter River is a bronze plaque placed by the Department of Main Roads, for being built in 1964.
Waymark Code: WMXKJZ
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 01/24/2018
Views: 2
While the 'Department of Main Roads' (NSW) has had a couple of name changes since this bridge was built, it is currently maintained by Services NSW. There are two plaques on the bridge, which have on them:
"DMR
1964"
A second Dated plaque is embedded at the eastern end of the two-lane bridge, on the northern side of it, on a similar concrete pillar. At: S32° 43.754' E151° 33.325'.
The bridge replaced an earlier 'Belmore Bridge', with a different alignment, that was built in 1869. That was directly affected by the very severe flood of 1955, when the Hunter River put a lot of 'downtown Maitland' metres under flood water.
This is a reinforced concrete deck, atop deep steel "I"-beams, making a multi-span bridge. Particularly on the eastern end the bridge is raised over the sloping flood 'plain', until it gets to the rivers edge.
At the western end, on the northern side, beside the footpath over the bridge, is another brass plaque for the Opening of the Bridge in April, 1964, by the Minister for Highways - Patrick D Hills (1917 - 1992). [
Patrick Hills ]
The Opening plaque reads:
This Bridge was Opened
by
The Hon. P.D. Hills, MLA
Minister for Local Government
and Minister for Highways
4th April 1964
Parking is probably best at the eastern end of the bridge. (At the coordinates on the page)
Visited: 1127, Sunday, 22 January, 2016