Te Rata Bridge

The Te Rata Bridge was a suspension bridge across the Retaruke River in the King Country, New Zealand. On 22 March 1994 two transoms (the supporting beams suspended from wire ropes running from side to side beneath the bridge) snapped causing the bridge to collapse while beekeeper Kenneth Richards was crossing in a laden light truck. Richards was killed when the truck fell 30 metres into the river.

The bridge was built in 1986 for Keith and Margaret Berryman, the latter being the landowner, by members of the New Zealand Army and a group of Fijian army trainees, as an exercise. The design was based upon calculations by Lieutenant John Armstrong, with labour and logistics for construction provided at New Zealand army expense.The Berryman Bridge was the second suspension bridge to be the primary access to Te Rata. The earlier bridge, which collapsed around the 1980s, was a fearsome structure on the same site. In the 'Otago Born and Bred' articles noted below, this first bridge is referred to as the Hayes Bridge.