The drama that led up to the creation of the bridge – which celebrates its 10th birthday on Saturday – started in July 2002 when the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) announced a six-week closure of the road to clear loose rocks.

Things were never the same after this closure - which would be the first of many over the next few years.

By the end of 2002, the RTA felt the road posed too much of a danger in the wet and developed a policy that it would be closed any time 25 millimetres of constant rain fell. They even installed boom gates at either end to stop people using the road.

Between December 2002 and June 2003 rain had forced the road closed no fewer than 10 times - often for several days at a stretch.

In mid-2003, Roads Minister Carl Scully closed the road for two-and-a-half years while the government worked on a solution.

A two-and-a-half year closure was devastating news to businesses on the southern side of the closure, who had been losing money hand over fist each time the road was blocked off. By the time the bridge was opened, some businesses would go broke, while others changed hands.

It was also not good for parents south of the closure who had children attending school on the other side of the 900-metre divide.

The Sydney to Gong cycle ride had a few issues as well. For a few years, it never got to the Gong - having to turn around at Stanwell Tops.

In December 2005, the long-term irritation at the closure of Lawrence Hargrave Drive turned to excitement as the Sea Cliff Bridge finally opened.

Schoolgirl Makenzie Russell – who won a contest to come up with the name of the bridge – cut the ribbon on December 11 with NSW Premier Morris Iemma.

Then 10,000 people who had won the right to walk over the bridge in a hugely popularMercury competition began crossing from north to south.

The road was open to traffic on Sunday, December 12, though it is highly likely a few locals took a drive along it on Saturday night.

Since then, many, many people have made that drive, locals, visitors and even ad makers.

A decade later, the bridge still pops up in ads for cars, petrol and anything else that needs an eye-catching location.