There is the race that stops a nation (Melbourne Cup) but do you know about the tractor that halts a bridge? The Swanport Bridge in Murray Bridge to be precise.
Yes, that’s right.
Well, maybe not always a tractor but certainly farm machinery.
‘Oversize and overmass’ is the technical term for these monster loads and while it applies to several sectors including mining and defence, agriculture is one of the most common.
At Murray Bridge, the main centre of the Murraylands region known for its dairy, cropping and horticulture industry, moving large loads via road across the River Murray requires special planning and approval.
The Swanport Bridge is dual lane with no median strip and an 80km limit. Anyone who has driven across this bridge in a truck or large 4WD towing a caravan or horse float will tell you it’s a tight squeeze.
And there’s no margin for error. You almost have to suck your breath in while motoring along. As you look out the side window, all you can see to the left or right are the rippling waters of Australia’s most iconic river less than a metre from your arm.
Delivering large pieces of farm machinery across this particular Bridge requires an escort from the boys and girls in blue using front and rear support vehicles and very good radio communications.
Murray Bridge police have had plenty of practice in closing the Bridge to allow oversize and overmass loads to pass from one side to the other along Highway One, the primary Adelaide–Melbourne road transport corridor. On one occasion, the traffic was stopped 10 times in a single day to ensure safe passage of various pieces of super-size cargo!
A semi-regular occurrence that always draws plenty of attention from the waiting public.
If only those wise engineers who designed the Swanport Bridge, back in the late 1970s, had made it three lanes…
FACT: The Murray Bridge Ramsey Bros dealership requests closure of the Swanport Bridge up to 10 times per year for new and used farm machinery.
