Hampden Bridge (Wagga Wagga) 2.52

The Hampden Bridge was a heritage-listed wooden Allan Truss bridge over the Murrumbidgee River in Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales, Australia. It was officially opened to traffic on 11 November 1895 and named in honour of the NSW Governor Sir Henry Robert Brand, 2nd Viscount Hampden. The bridge carried the Olympic Highway, formerly the Olympic Way, between 1963 until the bridge's closure to highway traffic in October 1995, replaced by the Wiradjuri Bridge. The Hampden Bridge was subsequently converted to local traffic use, then pedestrian use only, and finally demolished in 2014.Former structureThe Hampden Bridge was 100.5m long with each of the three truss spans 33.5m long. Hampden Bridge was the first large overhead-braced truss bridge designed by Percy Allan. The bridge was originally designed to be a steel-built bridge; however, the tenders were too expensive so timber was used as an alternative. The Hampden Bridge replaced the earlier bridge operated by the Wagga Wagga Bridge Company, a toll bridge over the Murrumbidgee River that operated between 1862 and 1895.The Roads and Traffic Authority handed over the Hampden Bridge to the Wagga Wagga City Council after the bridge was closed to traffic in October 1995. The local historic landmark remained open to pedestrians as a route between the suburb of North Wagga and the city centre until its closure in 2006. In 2012, Wagga Wagga City Council voted to demolish the bridge, as the maintenance costs associated with its preservation were too high. The issue of whether to keep the bridge or to demolish it divided the local community. On 20 August 2014, the bridge was demolished using an induced collapse method with the use of explosives.