The Bridge - The river is almost spanned.

The following photos were taken two days ago and, unlike the previous sets, were shot in the late afternoon as opposed to early morning.
This was deliberate and was done so that the structure, now with the majority of its girders in place, would be lit by the sun rather than be in shadow.

All photos enlarge to full-size when clicked.

We start with two taken from the southern end of the existing bridge, where the pedestrian steps from the roadway below join the footpath on the bridge itself. The first photo looks south and the second looks north.
Note that the footpath sections are being installed.

 

The next two are looking north and show that the spanning of the Clarence River is nearly complete.
Only a few girders remain to be fitted and, once done, it would be possible to cross the river by walking the full length on the girders, even without the road-base sections in place.

I walked along the highway to a point on the northern side where I could get a decent shot of the arch in order to give an idea of its length and height when compared to the existing crossing.
It really is an enormous structure.

Two shots, below, showing the 'U'-shaped pre-stressed girders.
These are manufactured on-site, in a rather large shed on the northern side of the river, and are installed by a crane using a massive sling.
Note that each girder weighs 161.5 tonnes.
At each span, therefore, there are 646 tonnes in girders alone which those massive columns have to support.
The girders crossing the river can only be lifted into place when the wind-strength is below 6 knots; those on the land approaches could be placed in winds up to 12 knots.

Below, a view of the "Pi" structure which I took back in January.
It looks a bit different now that it is doing its job!

Finally, a view of most of the bridge.
Not long now before the Clarence has a new span across it.