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 r ...

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 longest r ...

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, or ...

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 S ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. It opened on 31 January 1927. It was built as a road-rail bridge with both the Sturt Highway and Barmera railway lines using the same reservation.Paringa Bridge
South Australia Heritage Places Maintenance cost were shared equally between the SAR and Highways department. Subsequently, road lanes were added on either side to segregate the road and rail traffic. The last train crossed the bridge on 21 May 1982 with the line beyond Renmark formally closed on 7 March 1984. The railway tracks were removed in 1986 and the centre reservation converted to a shared pedestrian and cycle path. The vertical-lift span is opened twice a day for river traffic.Paringa Bridge lifting span operational again for River Murray traffic
Department of Planning, Transport & Infrastructure 30 May 2015 The bridge was listed as a State Heritage Place on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...

on 29 June 1989.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Bridges completed in 1927 Crossings of the Murray River Road-rail bridges South Australian Heritage Register Vertical lift bridges in Australia 1927 establishments in Australia Road bridges in South Australia