bridges

Read more about the article The Storms River Bridge
Firefly the Travel Guy

The Storms River Bridge

I don't know how many times I've crossed the Storms River Bridge over the years. Not even counting the number of times I stopped there back when I was a tourist guide. The other day I stopped for fuel and decided to take a walk onto the bridge for a change again. It's always an experience. The Storms River Bridge, originally called Paul Sauer Bridge, is a deck arch bridge designed by Italian engineer Riccardo Morandi, and constructed by Concor…

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06/06/2024
Read more about the article The Bloukrans Bridge on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape
Firefly the Travel Guy

The Bloukrans Bridge on the border of the Eastern and Western Cape

The Bloukrans Bridge in the Tsitsikamma is famous for being the site of the world’s highest commercial bridge bungee jump, operated by Bloukrans Bungy (previously known as Face Adrenalin) since 1997. The N2 national road along the Garden Route between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town crosses over the bridge and I'm sure somebody who has never pulled over to the view site probably doesn't know what's happening below them. Construction on the Bloukrans Bridge started in February 1980, running through…

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07/03/2024
Read more about the article The Van Staden’s River gorge road bridges
Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

The Van Staden’s River gorge road bridges

Van Standen's Groge with the arch bridge crossing it The Van Staden's River west of Port Elizabeth is the boundary of the Nelson Mandela Bay metro and a major landmark in the area. Most people cross the gorge on the N2 in a couple of seconds using the arch bridge while others take their time and drive through the old pass. But where does the name Van Staden's come from and when were the different bridges built? The arch bridge,…

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21/05/2021
Port Elizabeth Daily Photo

The Van Stadens Bridges

The Van Stadens River is about 35km west of Port Elizabeth and you can either go over or through it to get to the other side. The river and original pass was named after one of the area’s pioneer farmers, Marthinus van Staden, who was the first person to plot a basic route through the Van Stadens River Gorge in the 1850’s.  In 1867 Thomas Bain was brought in by the Cape Government to rebuild the pass so that ox wagon traffic could…

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15/06/2020
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Underneath the bridge

A couple of years ago I got to walk underneath the Van Stadens Bridge for the first time while following one of the trails in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve in search of a Geocache.  A couple of days ago I saw a friend post a similar picture and I decided to go and dig this photo out to post again.  Not the usual view of the bridge, is it? 

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01/05/2017
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Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve bridge view

When you're walking along the trails in the Van Stadens Wildflower Reserve you get to see glimpses and different angles of the Van Stadens Bridge all the time.  The bridge, over which the N2 highway crosses, was opened on 11 November 1971.  The bridge used to be a notorious suicide spot until barriers were set up all along the side of the bridge a couple of years ago. 

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21/12/2016
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The Van Stadens Gorge

Looking down the zig zagging Van Stadens River gorge towards the N2 Van Stadens Bridge while hiking in the Wildflower Reserve yesterday

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21/11/2016
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Swartkops Bridge

Looking up at the N2 bridge over the Swartkops River from the river mouth

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13/08/2016
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Spotlight on the Mackay Bridge

The Colchester area east of Port Elizabeth was a very busy spot in the mid 1800 and early 1900s, as it had the only pont over the Sundays River on the main road between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. The original pont was washed away in 1874 and a second one in 1875. A bridge was commissioned in 1884 and opened on 5th March 1895. It was called the Mackay Bidge, in honour of John Mackay who's efforts resulted in its…

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14/11/2015