Bloukrans Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 33°58′02.17″S23°38′42.62″E / 33.9672694°S 23.6451722°E |
Carries | National Route 2 |
Crosses | Bloukrans River |
Locale | Nature's Valley, Western Cape |
Characteristics | |
Design | Arch bridge |
Total length | 451m [1] |
Height | 216m |
Longest span | 272m [2] |
History | |
Construction cost | R25 million [3] |
Opened | 10 June 1983 [1] |
Location | |
The Bloukrans Bridge is an arch bridge located near Nature's Valley, Western Cape, South Africa. Constructed by Concor between February 1980 and June 1983, the bridge stands at a height of 216m above the Bloukrans River. [4] Its central span is 272m and the bridge is 451m in length in total. Its primary use is that of a road bridge, carrying national route N2.
Bloukrans Bridge is the site of the world's highest commercial bridge bungee jumping, Bloukrans Bridge Bungy, operated by Face Adrenalin since 1997. [5] The Bloukrans River below forms the border between the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces and is located in the Tsitsikamma region of the Garden Route.
Bungee jumping, also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a bridge across a deep ravine, or on a natural geographic feature such as a cliff. It is also possible to jump from a type of aircraft that has the ability to hover above the ground, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated.
The Europa Bridge or Bridge of Europe (Europabrücke) is a 777-metre-long (2,549 ft) bridge carrying the A13 Brenner Autobahn over the 657-metre (2,156 ft) Wipp valley just south of Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. The bridge spans the Sill River, and forms part of the main route across the Alps from western Austria to South Tyrol in Italy. It is also part of the main route between southeastern Germany and northern Italy.
The Garden Route is a 300-kilometre (190 mi) stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa which extends from Witsand in the Western Cape to the border of Tsitsikamma Storms River in the Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous estuaries and lakes dotted along the coast. It includes towns such as Witsand, Heidelberg, Riversdale, Stilbaai, Albertinia, Gouritsmond, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Great Brak River, Little Brak River, Wilderness, Sedgefield and Nature's Valley; with George, the Garden Route's largest city and main administrative centre.
The R102 is a Regional Route in South Africa. It is the route designation for all old sections of the N2, thus it is a discontinuous road that resumes in areas where a new N2 has been constructed.
The Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is an arch bridge in the United States that spans the Colorado River between the states of Arizona and Nevada. The bridge is located within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area approximately 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, and carries Interstate 11 and U.S. Route 93 over the Colorado River. Opened in 2010, it was the key component of the Hoover Dam Bypass project, which rerouted US 93 from its previous routing along the top of Hoover Dam and removed several hairpin turns and blind curves from the route. It is jointly named for Mike O'Callaghan, Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979, and Pat Tillman, an American football player who left his career with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the United States Army and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 by friendly fire.
The N2 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Cape Town through George, Gqeberha, East London, Mthatha, Port Shepstone and Durban to Ermelo. It is the main highway along the Indian Ocean coast of the country. Its current length of 2,255 kilometres (1,401 mi) makes it the longest numbered route in South Africa.
Concor Holdings (Proprietary) Limited. is a South African construction and mining services company. It is active throughout Southern Africa, involved in civil engineering, buildings, roads and mining projects. Concor returned as an independent brand in late 2016.
The Tsitsikamma National Park is a protected area on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. On 6 March 2009 it was amalgamated with the Wilderness National Park and various other areas of land to form the Garden Route National Park.
The Tsitsikamma mountains form an east-west mountain range located in the Garden Route region of the southern South African coast in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. Tsitsikamma means 'place of much water' in the Khoekhoe language.
The Garden Route National Park is a national park in the Garden Route region of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces in South Africa. It is a coastal reserve well known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail. It was established on 6 March 2009 by amalgamating the existing Tsitsikamma and Wilderness National Parks, the Knysna National Lake Area, and various other areas of state-owned land.
The Paul Sauer Bridge, also known as the Storms River Bridge, is a deck arch bridge over the Storms River in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The bridge is located on the Garden Route section of National Route 2, between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. At a maximum height of 120 metres (394 ft) above the Storms River, it was the highest concrete arch in Africa until the Bloukrans Bridge, 216 metres (709 ft), opened on the same road in 1984.
The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge spans the Kawarau River in the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The bridge is mainly used for commercial purposes by the AJ Hackett Bungy Company for bungy jumping - the world's first commercial bungy jumping site. The bridge carries walkers, runners and bikers on the Queenstown Trail over the river.
The Bloukrans Pass is a pass through the ravine of the Bloukrans River on the R102 road between Plettenberg Bay and Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. The Bloukrans River forms the boundary between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. The pass no longer serves as the main route, as it has been bypassed by the Bloukrans Bridge which carries the N2 national road. The pass underwent major repairs during 2011 on the Western Cape side after flood damage in November 2007.
The Bloukrans River is a short river located in the Tsitsikamma region of the Garden Route, South Africa. It is located on the border between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. The river mouth is located east of Nature's Valley, the Bloukrans Bridge spans the river near the mouth and the Bloukrans Pass is close by. The river originates near Peak Formosa in the Plettenberg Bay region.
Bloukrans Bridge Bungy is one of the world's highest commercial bungy jumping sites at 216 metres (709 ft) above the Bloukrans River. It is situated at Bloukrans Bridge on the N2 Highway at the border between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape in the Tsitsikamma area of South Africa's Garden Route. It has been operated by Face Adrenalin commercially since 1997.
WildPlay Element Parks is a Canadian-owned chain of outdoor recreation parks located across British Columbia, Ontario and New York. It is based on Vancouver Island. WildPlay's first park was opened south of Nanaimo, British Columbia in March 2006 where the company operates North America's first legal, purpose-made bungee jumping bridge. The bridge stands 150 feet (46 m) above the Nanaimo River; over 260,000 people have jumped since the site opened in 1990. The Nanaimo location hosts naked bungee jumping once a year as a fundraiser. Besides bungee jumping, WildPlay parks are made up of treetop activities involving high-ropes and obstacle climbing, swinging, and ziplining. WildPlay is located in Victoria, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jones Beach State Park and John Boyd Thacher State Park in New York.
Middleton is a hamlet in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality of the Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Middleton is situated on the banks of the Fish River off the N10 road and is about 30 km south of Cookhouse.
The C. H. Mitchell bridge, also known as the Mtamvuna bridge, is the second longest single span bridge in South Africa. The bridge's deck is suspended by a pair of cable hangers systems, which are supported by a cross-braced double steel arch. It is 206 metres (676 ft) in length and the highest point on its arch is 35 metres (115 ft) above the roadway.
Media related to Bloukrans Bridge at Wikimedia Commons