Chirundu first gained significance when the (then, Rhodesian) government decided to span the Zambezi at Chirundu in efforts to make a direct contact between Salisbury and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in the 1930s.

The Otto Beit Bridge was named after Sir Otto Beit, brother and heir to the estate of benefactor Alfred Beit. Alfred Beit had bequeathed ₤120 000 for the Cape-Cairo Railway Trust fund, which fund had made available funds for the construction of the bridge.

Otto Beit Bridge was Designed by Sir Ralph Freeman, and built by Messrs Dorman Long (ltd), in Middlesborough, England. The bridge comprised a single span 415 metres long and cost the equivalent of US $4.8 million today when it was completed in 1939. Lady Lillian Beit, widow of Sir Otto, officially opened the bridge on May 24 1939.