Harwood Bridge
Old and New Harwood Bridge
Coordinates	29°25′48″S 153°14′27″E / 29.4299°S 153.2407°E / -29.4299; 153.2407
Carries	1966–2019: Pacific Highway Since 2020: Local road Motor vehicles Grade-separated shared pedestrian footpath and cycleway
Crosses	Clarence River
Locale	Maclean, New South Wales, Australia
Maintained by	Transport for NSW
Characteristics
Design	Truss bridge with single vertical-lift span
Material	Steel
Total length	888 metres (2,913 ft)
Longest span	43.1 metres (141 ft)
No. of spans	34: (7 truss – 27 girder)
Piers in water	19
Clearance below	37 metres (120 ft) using lift span
No. of lanes	2
History
Construction cost	A$3.8 million
Opened	20 August 1966 (1966-08-20)
Replaces	Ferry (to 1966)
Replaced by	4-lane concrete bridge (since 2019: concurrent use)
Location
References
[1][2][3]

The Harwood Bridge is a two-lane steel truss bridge which carried the Pacific Highway over the Clarence River in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia from 1966 until 2019, when it was replaced by a four-lane 1.5-kilometre-long (4,921 ft) concrete bridge, located 20 metres (66 ft) to its east. The Harwood Bridge has been retained to provide access to Harwood Island.^[4][5]

Description

The Harwood Bridge crosses the main channel of the Clarence River, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) upstream from the river mouth, and 46 kilometres (29 mi) by road from Grafton. It is located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the town of Maclean at the village of Harwood. It carried the Pacific Highway from the south bank of the Clarence River onto Harwood Island,^[3] from where the highway crosses the Serpentine Channel onto Chatsworth Island then finally crosses the North Channel of the Clarence River via the Mororo Bridge (also a steel truss bridge) to the northern bank.

The Harwood Bridge was completed in August 1966, and replaced the last ferry crossing on the state highway system of New South Wales. Prior to the opening of the bridge, the river crossing was provided by three cable-guided ferries operating in parallel.^[3]

The bridge has a total length of 888 metres (2,913 ft), consisting of seven steel truss spans of 43.1 metres (141 ft) length and twenty-seven steel girder approach spans. The deck carries two lanes of traffic and a footway. One of the steel truss spans is a vertical-lift span, which allows vessels to navigate the Clarence River.^[3] However, this now occurs infrequently.

The Harwood Bridge formed part of a bypass of the town of Maclean and the village of Harwood. It is the longest, and last, in a series of steel truss bridges of a standard design built by the Department of Main Roads during the 1950s and 1960s, chiefly across the wide coastal rivers of New South Wales, and mostly on the Pacific Highway.^[3] Bridges of the same design were built on the Pacific Highway across the Hunter River at Hexham (1952), the South Channel of the Hunter River at Mayfield (1965, demolished 2009), the Karuah River at Karuah (1957), the Wollamba River as part of the Nabiac bypass (1958, demolished 2004), the Hastings River as part of the Port Macquarie bypass (1961), and the Macleay River at Kempsey (1959).

Replacement bridge

The Pacific Highway was upgraded between Grafton and Ballina. Work included a replacement four-lane 1.5-kilometre-long (4,921 ft) concrete bridge, located 20 metres (66 ft) to the east of the Harwood Bridge, spanning the Clarence River and its adjacent floodplain.^[6][7] The new bridge was constructed between 2016 and December 2019,^[3][8][9] and the existing bridge has been retained to provide access to Harwood Island.^[10]

A grade-separated pedestrian footpath and cycleway has been retained on the Harwood Bridge.^[11]