Birchenough Bridge
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Birchenough Bridge is the name for both a bridge across the Save River (pronounced Sa've) and a village next to the bridge. Birchenough Bridge is located 62 km from Chipinge in the Manicaland province of Zimbabwe linking Mutare with Masvingo ( ). The bridge was funded and planned by the Beit Trust, a foundation chaired at the time by Sir Henry Birchenough, it was completed in 1935. At a length of 1080 feet (329 meters) it was the third longest single-arch suspension bridges in the world at the time.
Ralph Freeman, the bridge's designer, was also the structural designer on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and consequently the two bridges bear a close resemblance, although Birchenough is only two-thirds as long as the Australian bridge.
In the 1970s a 40 tonne load limit was imposed on the bridge but in 1984 the bridge was widened (roadway: 7,2m to 10m wide) and strengthened as part of the World Bank's Highway Project One. The village which sprung up next to the bridge has become the centre of a small scale farming area.
The bridge is widely considered by Zimbabweans as being one of the country's finest pieces of architecture, and as such, it appears on the twenty-cent coin.
