MOST LIVEABLE CITY IN THE WORLD

Melbourne has once again been voted by the Economist Intelligence Unit “The Most Liveable City” in the world for the second year in succession. On and off it has been up there with the best of them for several years now and it has been declared the best to live in several times in the past. The concept of liveability assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. One can perhaps understand it if one compares Melbourne to some of the cities that did not do so well in the list: Karachi, Algiers, Harare, Lagos, Port Moresby and Dhaka.

Liveability relates to standards of living, facilities available, personal safety, crime rate, resources and services, cost of living, housing, public transport, health care, cultural events, open spaces and parks, sporting facilities, etc. The top ten most liveable cities in the world are: 1. Melbourne, Australia;
2. Vienna, Austria;
3. Vancouver, Canada;
4. Toronto, Canada;
5. Calgary, Canada;
5. Adelaide, Australia;
7. Sydney, Australia;
8. Helsinki, Finland; 9. Perth, Australia;
10. Auckland, New Zealand.

This post is part of the Sunday Bridges meme,
and also part of the Scenic Sunday meme.

The Queens Bridge is a historic road bridge over the Yarra River in Melbourne. The bridge was built in 1889 and has five wrought iron plate girder spans, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The bridge was built by contractor David Munro, and replaced a timber footbridge built in 1860.

Queen's Bridge is a very flat arch, and has five spans constructed of wrought iron plate girders. The bridge rests on iron cylinders filled with concrete, in groups of eight, with arched bracing between. It connects Market Street and William Street on the north bank to Queensbridge Street to the south. Trams on route 55 also cross the bridge.

The King Street Bridge takes King Street over the Yarra River in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The bridge continues south as an elevated viaduct, with the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex built around it in later years. The bridge was designed in 1959 by Utah Australia for the Country Roads Board, and constructed over the next two years, being opened on 12 April 1961. It was of a welded, deck-girder, suspended-span construction with spans up to 160 feet (49 m) long.

Soon after completion, on 10 July 1962, one span collapsed under the weight of a 47 ton semi-trailer, though the weight was within the bridge limits. The failure was due to brittle fracture on a very cold Melbourne winter day. The south end of the bridge has been undergoing differential settlement between the approach ramps resting on fill, and the suspended section supported by bored piles. The embarrassing incident was widely satirised at the time; most notably by the Melbourne TV clowns Zig and Zag and was the inspiration for a Spike Milligan radio comedy.