A BIT OF HISTORY
Picture credit - as in East London museum . East Bank Tunnel built in 1905 for the original wooden bridge no longer visible - tunnel still used today.
A crossing of a large river near its mouth as in this Buffalo River is seldom easy and always expensive. In East London the undertaking was further complicated as the river is constrained in a gorge for most of its path through the city and extensive approach earthworks were unavoidable.
After protracted negotiations between the South African Railways and Harbours Administration and the City Council of East London an agreement was concluded in 1931 and in March of that year work was commenced similtaneously on both river banks on the approaches for separate road and rail links across the river. The site chosen was one and a half miles upstream of the river mouth. The port of East London is South Africa's only remaining river port.
The Double Decker Bridge was opened to train traffic on 13 November 1934, when the first locomotive crossed. The roadway was temporarily brought into use on 27 December 1934 on the occasion of the first South African Motor Grand Prix held on the newly constructed West Bank Circuit. Nine thousand vehicles of all descriptions crossed the bridge that day. The official opening took place at 11:00 on the 20 February 1935 at a grand ceremony when the ribbon was cut by the then Mayor of East London Dr J Bruce-Bays. The bridge was known as the Bruce-Bays Bridge.
The bridge is a unique structure with the lower deck carrying the railway and the upper one the roadway, still today the only one of its kind on the African continent.
TO LOG THIS CACHE
Take a photo of yourself or something showing your caching name with the bridge visible from either side, upstream or downstream,
PLEASE COMPLY WITH THE OPTIONS OTHERWISE YOUR LOG WILL BE DELETED
If you are caching in a group every team in the group has to have their own picture. No group or duplicate photos will be allowed.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.