Interested in South African suspension bridges? Learn more about the most amazing suspension bridge in South Africa…
There are more than six suspension bridges in South Africa. One of the oldest bridges was constructed in 1898 and is known as the Levey Bridge. The bridge was constructed in Tsomo, South Africa. The main cables are wire suspension. The next bridge is the Centurion in South Africa, which is a crossing bridge at The Centurion Mall. It also uses wired cables for its suspension. It is a very important footbridge in that region. The Johannesburg footbridge in South Africa as well as the footbridge in Pretoria have suspension systems.
The Bloukrans Bridge also known as the Afrikaans Blue Ridges is one of the arch bridges, which were constructed near the tropical rainforest called Nature’s Valley in Western Cape, South Africa. Completed in 1984 the bridge spans 216 m over the Bloukrans River. It is on record as the highest single arch bridge in the world. The central span on the bridge is 272 m and the total length of the bridge is 451m. It is primarily utilized as a highway by a variety of trucks that cross the bridge daily. This makes it the third-highest bridge for commercial bungee jumping at 216 m. The river below is actually the border between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces and is located in the Tsitsikamma, which is part of the Garden Route.
The Nelson Mandela Bridge located in Johannesburg, South Africa was constructed in 2003 and cost a pricey R38 million. The main idea was to link Newtown with Braamfontein, both of which are very important business centers in Gauteng. The other objective was to provide an uplifting and modern vista for the city. This initiative was taken by the Blue IQ company.
Interestingly enough, the bridge was constructed on top of 42 railway lines and traffic was not disturbed during the construction of this 284 m long bridge. It is a very light structure and engineered to use steel and concrete to keep the weight down. It has two main pylons on the North and South, which are 42 and 27 meters in height respectively. The heavier banks flowing along the bridge were carefully reinforced by the use of heavier back spans.
There are two lanes on the bridge, while each side is flanked by pedestrian walk-ways. It can be seen from the M1 highway, which is the most popular road network in Johannesburg. The bridge now has 24-hour video surveillance because many copper wires were being stolen from the bridge by looters. The bridge can be viewed from one of Johannesburg’s most popular roads, the M1 highway.
Another bridge over the Storms River is the Paul Sauer Bridge. Constructed as a concrete arch bridge over in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, it is responsible for the road traffic for the N2 national highway. The bridge was inaugurated in 1971. A multi-million dollar camera surveillance system is installed on the bridge itself. There have been many suicides off the bridge. However, the surveillance camera has led to timely rescues of would-be suicide attempts in many instances.
