Tom 'Diver' Derrick Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 34°50′18″S138°30′25″E / 34.838283°S 138.506806°E Coordinates: 34°50′18″S138°30′25″E / 34.838283°S 138.506806°E |
Carries | Port River Expressway |
Crosses | Port River |
Locale | Lefevre Peninsula |
Named for | Tom Derrick |
Owner | Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure |
Preceded by | Mary MacKillop Bridge |
Followed by | Birkenhead Bridge |
Characteristics | |
Design | Single-leaf bascule bridge |
Total length | 303 metres (994 ft) |
Height | 10 metres (33 ft) |
No. of lanes | 4 |
History | |
Constructed by | Abigroup |
Opened | 1 August 2008 |
Location | |
The Tom 'Diver' Derrick Bridge, commonly referred to as the 'Diver' Derrick Bridge, is an opening single-leaf bascule road bridge over the Port River, Port Adelaide, in South Australia. It opened on 1 August 2008. It is located between Docks 1 and 2 at Port Adelaide and links to Francis Street to the east and Victoria Road to the west. [1]
The bridge was the subject of a successful community campaign, spearheaded by the local Semaphore & Port Adelaide RSL Sub-Branch and the Portside Messenger newspaper, to name it after Port Adelaide World War II hero, Tom 'Diver' Derrick instead of the State Government's unpopular choice of the Power Bridge.
For years, debate raged in Port Adelaide about the need for a third crossing over the Port River, in addition to the existing Birkenhead and Jervois bridges. Ideas for the crossing included an under-river tunnel, closed bridge, causeway and opening bridge. In the early 2000s the State Government announced the Port River Expressway project, a highway linking Port Adelaide to Adelaide's northern suburbs. The project included a closed bridge across the Port River. However the Port Adelaide community were concerned a closed bridge would cut-off the Port River and block larger boats from accessing the port's inner harbour. After a strong community campaign, the State Government agreed to build a high-level single-leaf bascule opening bridge. Abigroup was awarded the tender to build the bridge in 2005 and construction began the following year. [2] It opened on 1 August 2008. [3] [4]
Both road and rail bridges were originally referred to as the PRExy Bridges, short for Port River Expressway. In 2004, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced the road crossing would be named the 'Power Bridge' after the Port Adelaide Football Club.
Later in 2005, it was suggested the bridge be named after Derrick. This idea gradually garnered grassroots support in Port Adelaide. [5] In May 2008, the Portside Messenger collected a 3,500 signature petition in support of the Derrick name. [6] Port Adelaide-Enfield Council also unanimously supported naming the bridge after Derrick. On 5 June 2008, the State Government announced it had changed its mind and would name the bridge after Derrick. [7] [8]
The Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The Sturt Highway is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the route.
A bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or double-leafed.
The Port River is part of a tidal estuary located north of the Adelaide city centre in the Australian state of South Australia. It has been used as a shipping channel since the beginning of European settlement of South Australia in 1836, when Colonel Light selected the site to use as a port. Before colonisation, the Port River region and the estuary area were known as Yerta Bulti by the Kaurna people, and used extensively as a source of food and plant materials to fashion artefacts used in daily life.
Port Wakefield Road and Port Wakefield Highway are an important South Australian highway. They connect Adelaide to the Yorke Peninsula, Port Augusta, northern and western South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. They are designated National Highway A1 and a part of the National Highway. They are named after Port Wakefield, the first government town north of Adelaide. Historically, the whole route was named Port Wakefield Road, however following the opening of the Northern Expressway, the route north of that junction was named Port Wakefield Highway.
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the city of Adelaide. Port Adelaide played an important role in the formative decades of Adelaide and South Australia, with the port being early Adelaide's main supply and information link to the rest of the world. Its Kaurna name, although not officially adopted as a dual name, is Yartapuulti.
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Outer Harbor is a suburb in the Australian state of South Australia located at the northern tip of the Lefevre Peninsula about 22 kilometres (14 mi) north-west of the Adelaide city centre.
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The Port River Expressway is a 5.5-kilometre (3.4 mi) freeway-grade road. The expressway links Port Adelaide and the LeFevre Peninsula to the northern suburbs of Adelaide and major interstate routes via Salisbury Highway (A9) to Port Wakefield Road (A1) and the Max Fatchen Northern Expressway (M2) to Perth, Darwin and Sydney.
The Grafton Bridge is a heritage-listed bascule truss bridge that carries the Bent Street and North Coast railway line across the Clarence River in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia. The bridge links the Grafton central business district with South Grafton, and was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Portside Messenger is a weekly suburban newspaper in Adelaide, part of the Messenger Newspapers group. The Portside covers the entire Le Fevre Peninsula, taking in Adelaide's northern metropolitan beach suburbs, and all of Port Adelaide.
The Adelaide-Port Augusta railway line is the primary rail corridor in South Australia for northbound rail traffic out of Adelaide. The line, 315 kilometres long, forms part of the Perth–Adelaide and Adelaide–Darwin rail route, and the portion south of Crystal Brook forms part of the Adelaide–Sydney rail route.
The North–South Motorway is an incomplete planned motorway traversing the inner western suburbs of Adelaide from Waterloo Corner in the north to Bedford Park in the south. Progressively constructed in stages since 2010, once complete it will replace the adjacent South Road as Adelaide's main north-south roadway and form the central section of the North–South Corridor, being flanked north and south by the Northern Expressway and Southern Expressway, respectively.
Abigroup was an Australian construction company.
The Stuart O'Grady Bikeway is a 23 kilometres (14 mi) shared path in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, following the eastern side of the Max Fatchen Expressway. The northeastern end is adjacent to the on ramp from Two Wells Road to the Gawler Bypass Road. The southwestern end is adjacent to Port Wakefield Road. It is named after Stuart O'Grady.
The Jervois Bridge is a bridge in Greater Adelaide, Australia that crosses the Port River.
The Mary MacKillop Bridge is a bascule bridge in Adelaide, Australia that carries the Dry Creek-Port Adelaide railway line over the Port River.
Media related to Tom 'Diver' Derrick Bridge at Wikimedia Commons