Martin Bridge

The Martin Bridge is a road bridge over the Manning River in Taree, New South Wales, Australia. It is a steel truss bridge of 11 spans each 37.1 m long, on concrete supports, with three steel girder approach spans each 12.2 m long. The total bridge length is 463 m. Originally it had a lifting span with two concrete counterbalances. The bridge was opened on 18 May 1940 by the Premier of NSW, Alexander Mair, and replaced a ferry service at the end of Pulteney St (the redundant section of approach road on the southern bank of the Manning River leading to the ferry was renamed Old Punt Road). The construction cost was £97,000.The bridge was named after L.O Martin, Minister for Works and Local Government at the time of construction, and was the major piece of engineering on a deviation of the Pacific Highway from the previous crossing of the Manning River upstream at Tinonee. The location of the crossing of the Manning River by the Pacific Highway was changed yet again in December 1997 when the Taree bypass opened. As a result, most of the traffic now carried by the Martin Bridge is local traffic.