Windsor Bridge Replacement

Situated in Darug Country, Windsor is one of Australia’s oldest towns. It includes Thompson Square - a colonial public space bounded by 200 year old buildings and historic trees. It contained a busy State road dissecting the space leading to a 150 year old, narrow bridge with a short remaining design life.

The team worked collaboratively to produce a new bridge and road as part of a redesigned Square. A durable crossing for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists has been provided that withstands floods, respects heritage and leaves a legacy in the design of its elements and its whole landscape setting.

Narrow, with a short design life and originally built for horse-drawn vehicles in 1874, Transport needed to replace the Windsor Bridge and road approaches with a flood durable, new structure and approaches. The wider replacement bridge, 35 meters downstream, was controversial to many residents and stakeholders and a difficult planning and design challenge for the project team.

Over more than ten years the Transport Urban Design Roads & Waterways team and SMM worked together with the project team from planning to delivery, to produce a piece of transport infrastructure that provides a long term crossing for all vehicles and pedestrians, able to withstand floods, respects the heritage of the area, the landscape and community setting and leaves a legacy in the design of the Square, the bridge and its abutments, green infrastructure and active transport. The project supports economic growth and productivity by providing greater road capacity for forecast traffic volumes and safe two-way access for freight vehicles.