The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the inner city (CBD) and Melbourne's western suburbs, with the industrial suburbs in the west, and with the city of Geelong 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the south-west. It is part of one of the busiest road corridors in Australia.
The main river span is 336 metres (1,102 ft) in length, and the height above the water is 58 metres (190 ft). The total length of the bridge is 2,582.6 metres (8,473 ft). It is the fifth-longest in Australia, the longest being Melbourne's Bolte Bridge at 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). The West Gate Bridge is twice as long as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and is one of the highest road decks in Australia, clearing the water at 58 metres (190 ft), with the Sydney Harbour Bridge clearing the water at 49 metres (161 ft).
The bridge passes over Westgate Park, a large environmental and recreational reserve created during the bridge's construction, and carries up to 200,000 vehicles per day.
1970Oct, 15
Thirty-five construction workers are killed when a section of the new West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapses.
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Events on 1970
- 12Jan
Nigerian Civil War
Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War. - 28Apr
Richard Nixon
Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia. - 5Sep
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. - 28Sep
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo. Anwar Sadat is named as Nasser's temporary successor, and will later become the permanent successor. - 8Oct
Richard Nixon
Vietnam War: In Paris, a Communist delegation rejects US President Richard Nixon's October 7 peace proposal as "a manoeuvre to deceive world opinion".