Victoria Falls Bridge
The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls. It was built on the second gorge of the cases. As the river forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia here, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Livingstone in Zambia. Their greatest span of 156.5 meters, its total length is 198 meters and its height 128 meters.
History
The bridge was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes and his unfulfilled large as Cape to Cairo plan known colonial project, which also includes a rail link from the South African Cape of Good Hope belonged to the Egyptian Cairo - even if he has never visited the Victoria Falls and died before the construction of the bridge. From Rhodes is reported to have instructed the engineers, " .. the bridge over the Zambezi to build there, where the trains noticed the drizzle of the cases as they pass ." The bridge was designed in the engineering firm Sir Douglas & Francis Fox in London by George Anthony Hobson and Ralph Freeman, the engineer, who was later involved in the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.
The bridge was made in England by Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co., subsequently brought in by ship to the port of Beira, Mozambique and transported to the well planned by Sir Douglas & Francis Fox, newly built railway line up to the falls. Its construction lasted only 14 months, and was completed in 1905.
It was officially opened on 12 September 1905 by Professor George Howard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin. The American Society of Civil Engineers lists the bridge as International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Built with steel, the bridge is 198 meters long, with a arch span of 156.50 meters and a height of 128 meters above the low-water mark of the river. Originally built as a double-track railway bridge, it leads since a gain in 1929 of both a road and a railway line and a footpath. The bridge is the only rail link between Zambia and Zimbabwe and one of only three road links between the two neighboring countries. The other two road connections are the Chirundu Bridge and the Kariba Dam.
More than 50 years the Victoria Falls Bridge regularly by passenger trains as part of the main connection between the then Northern Rhodesia (Zambia ), South Africa and finally Europe was crossed. Freight trains brought mainly copper ore and timber from Zambia to the south.
The age of the bridge and maintenance problems eventually led to traffic restrictions. Trains and trucks of more than 30 tons of weight they can no longer use since 2006.
During the War of Independence of Zimbabwe, the bridge was mostly locked and 1975 place of fruitless peace talks, during which the parties met for more than nine hours in a railway carriage on the bridge. 1980, the freight and passenger traffic was resumed, which since then without interruption - except for maintenance work - expires. Originally, the bridge was called the "Great Zambezi bridge " or " Zambezi Bridge ", later it was given the name Victoria Falls Bridge.
Gallery
Helicopter view
Gorge of the Victoria Falls Victoria Falls with Bridge in the background
Swell
- 17.92838525.857245Koordinaten: 17 ° 55 '42 " S, 25 ° 51' 26" E
- Bridge in Africa
- Building in Zambia
- Building in Zimbabwe
- Southern Province (Zambia )
- Matabeleland North Province
- Historic Civil Engineering Landmark