The old Ballito Bridge that straddled the N2 for over 20 years bid farewell to the North Coast late on Friday night.

The construction of the new Ballito off-ramp and widened Ballito Drive rang the death knell for the old bridge. With traffic already passing over the new bridge, the demolition was set to be completed over the weekend.

Workers began drilling holes in the stress points of the bridge last week to place explosives, which brought the structure to the ground.

On Friday afternoon Infinite Demolishers unloaded a host of demolition trucks, backhoe loaders and tip-trucks in preparation for the lengthy process.

Large piles of sand were piled underneath to break the fall of the bridge segments. While this was going on the supporting pillars were weakened to ensure that the bridge collapsed correctly.

Once all the necessary work around the bridge was complete, machines and construction workers were moved to a safe distance to avoid any injuries or damage.

At around 11pm, the charges were set off and in less than a few seconds the structure was brought down.

Workers then began the lengthy process of breaking up the large sections of the bridge that now lay on top of the N2.

The N2 at Ballito was closed from Friday at 6pm until late afternoon on Sunday. Traffic was diverted around the N2 creating massive traffic delays, several kilometers long. 

The congestion was compounded by the influx of people attending the matric Rage.