The Sandridge Bridge is a historic bridge, originally carrying a railway, over the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs diagonally to the river's banks and is long. In 2006 it was redeveloped as a pedestrian and cycle path featuring public art. It is the third bridge on the site and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. History The first bridge on the site was built in 1853 for the original Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company line to Sandridge from Flinders Street to Port Melbourne at Hobsons Bay on Port Phillip – the first railway in Australia to operate steam locomotives. In 1857 the St Kilda railway line had opened parallel to part of the line to Sandridge, and the original bridge was replaced in 1858 by a timber trestle bridge carrying two lines of rail traffic, with the tight curve of the original railway removed by rebuilding the bridge on a more oblique angle as seen today. The current bridge was designed by the Victorian Railways and the contract let to David Munro & Co in 1886, the four track bridge opening for traffic in 1888. The actual junction of the Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines was at Flinders Street, with the two pairs of tracks running parallel until Clarendon Street, where the St Kilda line diverged south. Constructed at a 33-degree angle to the river bank, it was one of the first railway structures in Melbourne to use steel girders rather than iron, and the workforce included a young engineering student, John Monash. On either side of the river the steel girders were supported by bluestone and brick buttresses, and on the south side the structure continued as a brickwork viaduct. In the 1920 overhead electrical masts were added as part of the electrification of the line, and the original timber deck was replaced with rail and concrete slabs. The bridge was last used in 1987 with the conversion of the St Kilda and Port Melbourne railway lines to light rail. Some proposals were made for the light rail to continue over the Sandridge Bridge into Flinders Street station, but instead they were diverted from the railway reserve at Clarendon Street and sent into the city via Spencer Street. The light rail operates today as the route 96 tram to St Kilda, and route 109 tram to Port Melbourne. The viaduct over Queensbridge Street