Alfords Point Bridge

The existing three-lane Alfords Point Bridge was opened on 7 September 1973 and links the suburbs of Padstow Heights in the City of Bankstown and Alfords Point in the Sutherland Shire. It replaced a vehicular ferry which operated between Lugarno and Illawong further downstream, although the ferry continued to operate into 1974. Since its opening, traffic on Alfords Point Bridge has been managed by a ‘tidal flow’ system, in which two of the three lanes operate northbound during the morning peak, switching to two lanes operating southbound during the evening peak.

At the time the existing bridge was built, the piles and abutments for a second bridge were also constructed and in February 2007, the Roads and Traffic Authority commenced work to duplicate the Bridge.

The new bridge will look similar to the existing bridge and therefore will have minimal impact on the visual amenity of the area. It will be constructed on the existing piles and abutments, and will provide two lanes for southbound traffic, and breakdown lane/shoulder and a 3.3m wide shared pedestrian and cyclist path. Once the new bridge is built, the existing bridge will be converted to two lanes for northbound traffic with a breakdown lane/shoulder. Construction work will take approximately 18 months to complete.

Como Railway Bridges

A railway bridge was constructed across the Georges River at Como when the Illawarra railway line was extended to Sutherland in 1885.

It was a lattice girder type bridge, 956 feet long with four main girders, and cross girders carried longitudinal girders to support the single rail track. It was supported by round steel pillars set on concrete bases.

Although there were separate up and down tracks on each side of the river, only one train could cross the bridge at a time and by the mid 1960’s it became evident that the river crossing needed to be duplicated. A new bridge was designed in 1968 and construction was completed in 1972.

The new bridge comprises seven spans of adjacent concrete box girders each carrying a ballasted rail track. Each girder is 48 metres long and is simply supported on rocker and roller bearings. These are post–tensioned with Macalloy bars and consist of pre-cast segments with insitu joints and cantilevers.

The old bridge which carries the Woronora water pipeline over the Georges River linking the Penshurst reservoirs to southern dams was converted to a cycle way and walkway allowing people to cross between Oatley to Como.