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Bayswater Subway

Bayswater, Western AustraliaBridges completed in 1910Bridges with frequent bridge strikesRailway bridges in Perth, Western AustraliaUse Australian English from August 2020
Bayswater Bridge August 2020
Bayswater Bridge August 2020

The Bayswater Subway (or Bayswater Bridge) is a road under rail subway near Bayswater railway station in Perth, Western Australia with a low clearance of 3.8 metres (12 ft). It has become well known in Perth and has received significant media coverage for being frequently struck by tall vehicles.The bridge was first proposed in 1898, but was not constructed until 1910, opening on February 14 of that year. The bridge was torn down in May 1969, due to its two lane width not being enough, and it was rebuilt with four lanes underneath. Bayswater railway station was rebuilt at the same time as an island platform as part of the conversion of the Midland line from narrow gauge to dual gauge.: 268–269 In September 2014, flashing low clearance signs were put on the bridge. In May 2019, one of the low clearance signs fell off the bridge, landing on a vehicle and breaking its windscreen. Between when the Public Transport Authority started counting in 2014 and May 2019, the Bayswater Subway was struck by 36 vehicles.By the end of 2022, the bridge will be replaced by a 4.8-metre-high (16 ft) bridge as part of the rebuild of Bayswater railway station.Despite being the best-known bridge in Perth for being hit, the Bayswater Subway is not the lowest road-under-rail bridge in Perth. The Sutherland Street bridge, in West Perth has a clearance of 3.7 metres (12 ft), and the Seventh Avenue Bridge, in Maylands had a clearance of 3.3 metres (11 ft) before it was rebuilt.It is different from the historic railway bridge over the Swan River that existed between 1897 and 1957, which at times had been referred to as the "Bayswater Bridge".

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bayswater Subway (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bayswater Subway
Coode Street, City Of Bayswater

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Wikipedia: Bayswater SubwayContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -31.91838 ° E 115.91142 °
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Coode Street

Coode Street
6053 City Of Bayswater, Bayswater
Western Australia, Australia
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Bayswater Bridge August 2020
Bayswater Bridge August 2020
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Bayswater railway station, Perth
Bayswater railway station, Perth

Bayswater railway station is a railway station in Bayswater, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It is on the Midland line, which is part of the Transperth commuter rail network. It has an island platform, accessed via a pedestrian underpass and a level crossing. The station is only partially accessible due to a large platform gap and steep access ramps to the platform. Services run every 10 minutes during peak and every 15 minutes between peak. The journey to Perth railway station is 6.7 kilometres (4.2 mi), and takes 12 minutes. The station is served by three regular bus routes. The station first opened in 1896, with two side platforms, and an adjacent goods yard. It served as the junction station for the Belmont spur line between 1896 and 1956. The station was rebuilt as an island platform just to the north in the late 1960s when the Midland line was converted from narrow gauge to dual gauge; the standard gauge trains were unable to fit between the side platforms. Around that time, the goods yard closed. A reconstruction of the station began in January 2021 as part of the state government's Metronet project, with the new station located slightly to the south. This is in order to increase the number of platforms to four, and raise the height of the nearby Bayswater Subway so that tall vehicles do not hit it. After the upgrade, Bayswater station will be the largest railway station in Perth outside the Perth central business district. The first half of the new station is planned to open on 16 October 2022. Parts of the new station design have received criticism. The station is planned to become a junction station again, when the Airport line opens in 2022; the Morley–Ellenbrook line will also split at Bayswater when it opens in 2024.

Bayswater, Western Australia
Bayswater, Western Australia

Bayswater is a suburb 6 km (4 mi) north-east of the central business district (CBD) of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is just north of the Swan River, within the City of Bayswater local government area. It is predominantly a low-density residential suburb consisting of single-family detached homes. However, there are several clusters of commercial buildings, most notably in the suburb's town centre, around the intersection of Whatley Crescent and King William Street and a light industrial area in the suburb's east. Prior to European settlement, the Mooro group of the Whadjuk Noongar people inhabited the area. In 1830, the year after the European settlement of the Swan River Colony, land along the river was divided between the colonists, who moved in soon after. Most either died or left in the months following, leaving the area undeveloped for most of the 19th century. In 1881, the Fremantle–Guildford railway line was built, triggering the founding of the Bayswater Estate, the first development in the area, and in 1897, the Bayswater Road Board was founded, giving Bayswater its own local government. At first, development consisted of nurseries, market gardens and dairies, but as time went on, Bayswater became more and more suburban. Today, Bayswater is fully suburbanised, with the subdividing of older lots being commonplace. Plans for apartments around Bayswater and Meltham railway stations are a contentious issue. Parks and wetlands, including the Baigup Wetlands, the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary and Riverside Gardens. There are other parks throughout the suburb, including Bert Wright Park, Halliday Park (which includes a war memorial), Hillcrest Reserve and Houghton Park line Bayswater's Swan River foreshore. Major roads through the suburb include Guildford Road, which connects to the Perth CBD and Tonkin Highway.

Garratt Road Bridge
Garratt Road Bridge

Garratt Road Bridge consists of two adjacent bridges over the Swan River, linking the suburbs of Bayswater and Ascot in Perth, Western Australia. The upstream bridge was built in 1935, while the matching downstream bridge was built in 1972. The site was significant prior to the construction of Garratt Road Bridge – it featured in Aboriginal mythology, and was in the near vicinity of 1880s bridges for pedestrians and trains. From that time there were various proposal to provide a vehicular crossing between Bayswater and Bassendean. Interest peaked in 1928, but plans were delayed due to the Great Depression. The first bridge, designed by Main Roads Chief Engineer Ernest Godfrey, was constructed in 1934–35. It allowed two lanes of traffic to cross the Swan River, alongside pedestrians on an adjacent footbridge. Increasing traffic volume led to the bridge being widened by one and a half metres (5 ft) in 1962. By the end of that decade, a second bridge was being planned to cope with rising levels of congestion. It was constructed during 1971–72, but with only a 40-year design life as it was expected to be redundant once the planned Beechboro–Gosnells Highway (modern-day Tonkin Highway) opened. From the 1970s, Main Roads has maintained the bridges with procedures that vastly extended the bridges' lifespans, including concrete overlays on the decks, and retrofitting of steel girders. The heritage value of the structure was recognised in 1998, and Garratt Road Bridge was included in the City of Bayswater's Municipal Heritage Inventory. Eleven years later, in 2009, it was added to the state heritage list, and a permanent entry was given on 23 March 2010.