Silverwater Bridge
The Silverwater Bridge is a concrete box girder bridge that spans the Parramatta River in Sydney, New [South Wales], Australia. The bridge carries Silverwater Road over the river to link Silverwater in the south to Rydalmere and Ermington, [New South Wales|Ermington] in the north.
Description
Built by John Holland, the Silverwater Bridge was opened on 10 November 1962 by Premier of New South Wales Bob Heffron and was the first concrete box girder bridge built in New South Wales.It was the first of the two major bridges needed to construct the Hornsby-Heathcote county road, and was the second project undertaken in the construction of this county road.
In conjunction with the construction of the bridge, Silverwater Road between Parramatta Road and the bridge was widened to six lanes, and was extended across the new bridge to connect to Victoria [Road, Sydney|Victoria Road] at Ermington.
The origin of the suburb's name, and subsequently the bridge's name, is unknown. It may have been a reference to the nearby Parramatta River, which could have provided silver reflections of light off the water.