Today marks 140 years since the opening of the original Alexandra Bridge on June 1, 1882.
The abutments, piers and towers of the bridge formerly spanning the Clutha River are visible from the State Highway 8 road bridge or from the northern (River St) and southern (Old Bridge Rd) river banks.
The bridge was born after locals campaigned to replace the existing Clutha River punt service with a permanent structure - the cause was strengthened when the closest bridge, at Clyde, failed in an 1878 flood. Vincent County engineer Leslie Duncan Macgeorge designed the suspension bridge with two masonry 29.5m-tall piers which featured repeating arches and ornamentation.
After dealing with construction difficulties, the Alexandra Bridge was opened to much fanfare.
For more than 70 years the structure was a key link on SH8 until traffic flows proved over and above the capacity of the single-lane structure.
It was replaced by the existing bridge in 1958. At that time the bridge’s deck and cables were removed, leaving the monumental piers and towers as a memorial.
The completion of the Roxburgh Dam in 1956 and the subsequent silting of the river behind it ever since, mean the foundations of the piers at Alexandra now sit 6.8m below the waterline.
