The Paringa Bridge carries the
Sturt Highway
Sturt Highway is an Australian national highway in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is an important road link for the transport of passengers and freight between Sydney and Adelaide and the regions situated adjacent to the ...
across the
Murray River
The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) ( Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longe ...
in
Paringa, South Australia
Paringa is a small town in the Riverland of South Australia. Paringa is famous for its vineyards, almond, citrus and stone fruit orchards, and the steel bridge with a span that can be raised to allow houseboats and paddlesteamers to pass undernea ...
. Until 1982, it also carried the
Barmera railway line
The Barmera railway line was the second railway built to develop the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, in 1913. It followed the success of the Pinnaroo railway line in 1906. Both lines branched east from Tailem Bend to the north of the ma ...
.
The bridge consists of a
vertical-lift span long which can rise in one and a half minutes. There are three
Pratt truss
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, o ...
spans of , and a
plate girder
A plate girder bridge is a bridge supported by two or more plate girders.
Overview
In a plate girder bridge, the plate girders are typically I-beams made up from separate structural steel plates (rather than rolled as a single cross-section), w ...
span at each end. It was designed by the
South Australian Railways
South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Austr ...
(SAR) and fabricated by
Perry Engineering
Perry Engineering was a major foundry and steel engineering works in the state of South Australia.
History
Perry Engineering had its origins in 1899 when Samuel Perry purchased from the estate of James Wedlock the Cornwall Foundry on Hindley St ...
of