The Berri bridge was commenced in August 1996, and was opened on July 27,1997. Initially, it was thought it would take longer to build, but events have proved otherwise.
A bridge has been sought here for around thirty years, but it is only in the last 15 or so years that the project was considered seriously.


The bridge was constructed by a new technique in SA which simplified installation. Sections of the bridge about 40M long were built on the bank in line with the proposed path, then jacked out or "launched". The next section was built and joined to the launched section, and the process repeated until the river was bridged. Here, the road surface isn't layed yet, but concrete kerbing and walkways are being cast as the sections are built. The start of the kerb can be seen at the top of this picture.

Here is the construction and launching area. Under the bridge, on the left are two of the several operators supervising the current launching. On the right, the formwork of the kerb concreting area is visible. The bridge was launched at the speed of around 10M per hour. It took approximately a week to prepare each section for launching.