5 Ampera Bridge Facts: Palembang’s Iconic Infrastructure

While traveling to Palembang, you absolutely need to round off your trip by visiting Ampera Bridge. You heard it right! Ampera Bridge, the icon of the capital city of South Sumatra, is a bridge erected on the Sumatran route that stretches over the Musi River.

Built to link two areas, Ampera Bridge connects Seberang Ilir and Seberang Ulu, and further serves as a primary route for locals on a daily basis. It is easily observed by the sight of Ampera Bridge per se, as the traffic flow passes the bridge frequently.

Aside from being the main route, Ampera Bridge is also a top tourist destination to visit in Palembang, or a city well-known as the Land of Sriwijaya. Here you can enjoy different exciting activities, including taking selfies, tasting various culinary delights, and appreciating its stunning night city. 

Ampera Bridge earned its name from the acronym, which stands for Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat (Mandate of People’s Suffering). Nonetheless, before it was known as Ampera Bridge, the bridge used to have a different name. Have you ever heard the former name of Ampera Bridge? Let us see 5 facts about Ampera Bridge that only a few know about.

5 Ampera Bridge Facts in Palembang

Different Color Changing up to Three Times

Ampera Bridge we see today has a color of brick red. Well, before its recent iconic color, Ampera Bridge has experienced three color changes.

The bridge was first inaugurated in 1965 and spray-painted in grey. In 1992, the bridge’s color was changed to yellow since the previous grey paint was flaking. By 2002, Ampera Bridge changed its color for the third time to red. This famous red color sticks to this day.

Formerly Named Bung Karno Bridge

As the Governor of South Sumatra, Brigadier General Abujazid Bustomi introduced the bridge on November 10, 1965, Ampera Bridge was known as Bung Karno Bridge. The appointment of the name matched the commemoration of the 20th Indonesian National Hero’s Day.

Bung Karno is acknowledged as the figure with immense contribution to the bridge’s construction. He proposed the idea and the structure design, as well as frequently monitored the construction process directly in the field.

Despite his contribution, the heated political atmosphere in Indonesia at that time emerged a wave of protest from the anti-Soekarno group.

One year later, in 1966, as the bridge slowly became the pride of Palembang people, the anti-Soekarno groups demanded to dismiss Bung Karno’s name from the bridge and change it to Ampera Bridge. In the end, Ampera has become a name we recognize so far.

Retractable Middle Part

Seeing that the bridge stretches over the Musi River, which casually performs as a passage for large ships, the middle part of Ampera Bridge is designed to be retractable.

The design intends to prevent Ampera Bridge from blocking the fleet of large ships that pass beneath. Thus, the middle part of the bridge (between the two pillars) can be lifted and lowered once the ship successfully passes.

However, since it was considered to disrupt the traffic flow of the local crossing of the bridge, they deactivated the “lifting” function of the middle part of the bridge in 1970.

Initiating Construction Design in 1906

Long before they established the bridge in 1965, the idea of building Ampera Bridge had already been initiated during the Gemeente era in 1906.

The construction of this bridge is considered critical, given that the bridge connects the two major areas in Palembang city; Seberang Ilir and Seberang Ulu, which are separated by the Musi River.

The Longest Bridge in ASEAN

Shortly after the establishment of the bridge in 1965, the local people of Palembang treasured Ampera Bridge immensely, as the bridge was immediately chosen as the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. With 1,177 meters in length and 22 meters in width, Ampera Bridge was the most magnificent bridge in the ASEAN at the time. 

Besides the long freeway, Ampera Bridge rises more than 11 meters height above the water level. The height of Ampera Bridge’s towers reaches 63 meters from the ground; hence the distance between the towers reaches 75 meters.

After knowing many facts about it, are you ready to see the bridge’s grandeur soon?

Palembang’s Tourist Destinations

As the long holiday season is coming, you can plan a vacation with your loved ones by visiting Palembang. Other than the iconic Ampera Bridge, there is so much exciting destinations to visit in Palembang.

You can visit Benteng Kuto, a historical building built in 1780 that has remained great to this day. Furthermore, you can plan nature-based tourism in the Punti Kayu Nature Park. In the Punti Kayu Nature Park, you can enjoy many rides and visit the replicas of the wonders of the world, farm zones, aerial runways, and other outbound activities. 

Remember to enjoy the unique culinary delights of Palembang. Besides pempek, try other dishes of Palembang. They have maksuba cakes, burgo, pindang palembang, and lempok durian. We assure you that you will experience the best vacation of your life!

Explore Palembang’s Tourist Destinations with a Car Rental Service

Support your holiday activities by using a car rental service to give a comfortable vacation and make your body relax during the trip.

TRAC is the only right choice to have a safe and trustworthy car rental service in Palembang. TRAC will serve your vacation requirements through car rental services, whether with drivers or key-off services.

With the TRACtoGo application, it is getting easy to order a car rental service. Install the TRACtoGo application now via the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store and get special offers. 

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