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Princes Bridge, originally Prince's Bridge, is an important bridge in central Melbourne, Australia that spans the Yarra River. It is built on the site of one of the oldest river crossings in Australia. The bridge connects Swanston Street on the north bank of the Yarra River to St Kilda Road on the south bank, and carries road, tram and pedestrian traffic. The present bridge was built in 1888 and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Because of its position, Princes Bridge is often a focal point for celebratory events in Melbourne such as the Moomba Festival, New Years Eve and many celebrations taking place on the Yarra River where it flows through the city. ==History== When the first European settlers settled in Melbourne in 1835 there was no permanent crossing point of the Yarra River. Over time various punt and ferry operators set up business to ferry people and other traffic across the river. The colonial government in Sydney was unreliable in providing funds for the construction of a bridge, resulting in most of Melbourne’s early infrastructure being provided by private enterprise. On 22 April 1840, a private company was formed to construct a bridge across the Yarra. Traders in Elizabeth Street vied with those in Swanston Street to have the through traffic that would be generated by a bridge. On the south bank of the river, St Kilda Road was still a dirt track. Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe favoured an Elizabeth Street crossing, but despite such official pressure the private company favoured the construction conditions at Swanston Street, which had become regarded as the growing town's main street. It was on that street in 1840 that they opened their wooden toll bridge. In 1844, a wooden trestle bridge was built across the river, and was a toll bridge.〔"(Some significant dates in the History of the City of Melbourne )", ''(City of Melbourne )''〕 The foundation stone for a new bridge was laid in 1846 and the bridge was opened in 1851. The bridge was a single span 150 ft (46 m) bluestone and granite arch bridge, with a rise of only 24 ft (7 m).〔Victorian Government Gazette, 1850, Vol 49, Wednesday 20 Nov 1850, Page 985. "Return of Public Works" David Lennox.〕 and was at the time, one of the longest, flattest stone arch bridges in the world. Built with government funds, the bridge was designed by David Lennox.〔 It was opened on 15 November without tolls. It was known as Lennox’s Bridge.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Streets and roads - City of Melbourne )〕 However, within a year, gold was discovered in country Victoria and Melbourne saw a massive increase in population. In addition to the increase in traffic crossing the bridge, there was also a need to handle increased shipping traffic on the Yarra River and the river was widened to cope with this. By that time the Yarra River had been heavily modified both upstream and downstream and the major floods of the early years were becoming less common. The new bridge was designed by John Grainger (1855–1917),〔Tibbits, G. R. and Beauchamp, D. (John Harry Grainger: Engineer and Architect ) at ''3rd Australasian Engineering Heritage Conference 2009''. Retrieved 2013-01-15.〕 the father of the Australian composer Percy Grainger, and built by David Munro using ironwork fabricated by Langlands foundry in Melbourne. Construction on the new bridge began in 1886 and it was opened on 4 October 1888, in time for the second International Exhibition to be held in Melbourne. As with many historic Melburnian buildings and bridges, the bridge is built on solid bluestone bulwarks with plenty of cast iron. The bridge was named Prince's Bridge, after Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). In 1924,the bridge was reinforced to take the weight of the electric trams which were soon to replace the previous cable trams along St Kilda Road and the side-streets. The name of the bridge was then changed to Princes Bridge. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Princes Bridge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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