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Sydney Harbour Bridge Present Day
Present Day
The Bridge originally had four traffic lanes, which were wider, and then later they were increased in number to six narrower lanes. Now the vehicles swish past each other with just several inches between them.
The tram tracks were replaced by two road lanes when the tram service system was withdrawn in 1958 and they easily stand out among the eight different road lanes. Lanes 7 and 8 connect the bridge to the Cahill Expressway carrying traffic to the Eastern Distributor.
The Bradfield Highway is also called Traveling Stock Route as this was the officially declared lane for herding livestock which had to be done between midnight and dawn and after giving prior notification. However, this practice has stopped long since.
In 1980s, the traffic level had increased so much on the bridge that it was decided to build a traffic tunnel to relieve the traffic pressure on the bridge. The construction of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel was completed in August 1992 and it is only meant for road traffic. However, the Tunnel was let open for the public before its official opening so that the public could walk down the Tunnel's roadway on that particular day.
The bridge is geared for tidal flow operation. This allows reversing traffic directions through the lanes to better suit the heavy and light traffic hours. Lanes 3, 4, and 5 of the total eight lanes numbered 1 through 8 from east to west are reversible.
