15 World’s Most Notable Bridges: Architectural and Engineering Feats

Bridges are structures built over a body of water or other obstacles. Almost all bridges are designed to carry land traffics. Some however, carry canals, aircraft runways, or pipelines. Bridges make transportation faster, saving us lots of time, efforts and money.

The bridges on the list below are noted for the length of their main span, their total length or some other notable feature.

1. Sutong Bridge: Yangtze River, China

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Sutong Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Yangtze River in China between Nantong and Changshu. With a

span of 1,088 meters (3,570 ft), it is the cable-stayed bridge with the longest main span in the world. Its two side-spans

are 300 meters (984 ft) each, and there are also four small cable spans. Two towers of bridge are 306meters (1,004 ft)

high and thus second tallest in the world. Overall the bridge length is 8,206 meters (26,923 ft). Construction has been

estimated to cost about US$1.7 billion.

2. The Bang Na Expressway or Viaduct: Bangkok, Thailand

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Bang Na Expressway or viaduct is the longest bridge in the world, but is excluded on some lists since it does not cross

a body of water. The full name of this bridge is Bang Na - Bang Pli - Bang Pakong Expressway, officially Burapha Withi

Expressway, is a 54 km long six-lane elevated highway in Bangkok Thailand. The highway is elevated onto a viaduct

(a bridge with many spans) that has an average span length of 42 meters (138 feet). It is a 27-meter (89-foot) wide box

girder bridge and was completed in March 2000. It took 1,800,000 cubic meters (2,350,000 cubic yards) of concrete to

build the bridge. The spans were constructed using 21,320 pieces of precast concrete.

3. Vasco da Gama Bridge: Lisbon, Portugal

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The longest bridge in Europe at 17.2 km is the Vasco da Gama Bridge. It is a cable-stayed bridge in Tagus River near Lisbon,

capital of Portugal. It has a total length of 17.2 km (10.7 mi), including 0.829 km (0.5 mi) for the main bridge, 11.5 km (7.1 mi)

in viaducts, and 4.8 km (3.0 mi) in dedicated access roads. The bridge was opened to traffic on 1998, 18 months after c

onstruction first began, just in time for Expo 98, the World's Fair that celebrated the 500th anniversary of the discovery by

Vascoda Gama of the sea route from Europe to India.

4. Royal Gorge Bridge: Colorado, USA

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The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within a 360 acre (1.5 km²) theme park, hanging

1,053 feet (321 m) above the Arkansas River and billed as the highest suspension in the world. The bridge is 1260 feet

(384 m) long and 18 feet (5 m) wide, with a wooden walkway with 1292 planks. The bridge is suspended from towers that

are 150 feet (46 m) high. It was built with the intent that it serve as a tourist attraction, and has continued to be one of the

most-visited tourist attractions in Colorado since its construction.
The cable-stayed Viaduct de Millau, completed in December 2004, is the tallest bridge in the world, at 1,118 feet (341 m),

but its road/vehicle deck is only 885 ft (270 m) above the River Tarn. The Royal Gorge Bridge is still the highest suspension

bridge in the world, as well as the bridge with the highest deck-to-surface clearance.

5. Wanxian Bridge: Chongqing, China

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The Wanxian Bridge is longest existing concrete arch bridge in the world. This bridge is a reinforced concrete arch bridge

built over the Yangtze River in 1995. It is located in the vicinity of the Three Gorges Dam in Wanxian, Chongqing, China. Its

arch is 420 meters and it is 864.12 m in length. During the bridge construction, a concrete-filled tubular arch truss frame

was built to support the weight of the concrete arch and embedded into the concrete arch. It is a major highway bridge with

lanes for vehicles and pedestrians.

6. Zhaozhou Bridge: Hebei, China

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The world's oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge is the Zhaozhou Bridge. Credited to the design of a craftsman

named Li Chun, the bridge was constructed in the years 595 - 605 during the Sui Dynasty (581-618). Located in the southern

part of Hebei Province, it is the oldest standing bridge in China.

7. Rio-Antirio Bridge: Gulf of Corinth, Greece

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This magnificent bridge is officially called "Charilaos Trikoupis" bridge after the statesman, who first envisioned it, is a

cable-stayed bridge crossing the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rio on the Peloponnese to Antiro on

mainland Greece. The piers of the Rio-Antirio Bridge can slide on their gravel beds to accommodate tectonic movement.

It has two vehicle lanes per direction, an emergency lane and a pedestrian walkway. Its five-span four-pylon cable-stayed

portion of length 2,252 meters (7,388 ft) is the world's second longest cable-stayed deck; only the deck of the Millau Viaduct

is longer at 2,460 meters (8,071 ft). However, as the latter is also supported by bearings at the pylons apart from cable

stays, the Rio-Antirio bridge deck might be considered the longest cable-stayed "suspended" deck.

8. Howrah Bridge: West Bengal, India

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The world's busiest cantilever bridge in the world is the Howrah Bridge. It is a bridge that spans the Hooghly River in West

Bengal, India. It was originally named the New Howrah Bridge because it links the city of Howrah to its twin city, Kolcata

(Calcutta). On 14 June 1965 it was renamed Rabindra Setu, after Rabindranath Tagore a great poet and the first Indian

Nobel laureate. However it is still popularly known as the Howrah Bridge. It is one of the longest bridges of its type in the

world.

9. Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge: Japan

Image Source The Akashi - Kaikyo Bridge has the largest span of any bridge

Pearl Bridge or more popularly known as Akashi - Kaikyo Bridge in Japan was completed in 1998 and is the world's longest suspension bridge (measured by the length of the center span of 1,991 metres/6,532 feet). It links the city of Kobe on the

mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island by crossing the busy Akashi Strait. It carries the part of the Honshu - Shikoku

Highway.

10. Horai Bridge: Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

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This bridge is constructed in 1879; it is a wooden walking bridge in Shimada, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan over the Oi River.

The bridge was registered in The Guinness Book of Records as the longest wooden walking bridge (897 m) in 1997.

11. Tatara Bridge: Japan

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Tatara Bridge has the largest span among cable-stayed bridges. The bridge has a center span of 890 meters (2,920 ft).

Asof 2008 it has the second longest main span of any cable-stayed bridge after the Sutong Bridge. The bridge, which

openedin 1999, carries two lanes of traffic in each direction and has additional lanes for bicycles, motor bikes, and

pedestrians. The steel towers are 220 meters or 722 ft high and shaped like an inverted Y. The side-spans are 164.5

meters (540 ft) and257.5 meters (845 ft) respectively.

12. Erasmusbrug Bridge: Rotterdam, Netherlands

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Erasmus Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Nieuwe Maas River, linking the northern and southern halves of the

city of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Erasmusbrug was completed in 1996. The 808 meter long bridge has a 139 meter-

high asymmetrical pylon, earning the bridge its nickname of "The Swan". The southern span of the bridge has an 89 meter

longbascule bridge for ships that cannot pass under the bridge. The bascule bridge is the largest and heaviest in West

Europeand has the largest panel of its type in the world.

13. The Great Stone Bridge of Adana: Adana, Turkey

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The great Stone Bridge of Adana spans the Seyhan River in Adana, Turkey. It was originally built under Hadrian in the

2ndcentury. Today, only 14 of the original 21 arches remain. Ta?kopru is one of the symbols of Adana and the oldest

bridge in the world that is still in use today. The bridge was a vital contribution to the trade routes throughout ancient

Anatolia and Persia.

14. Vizcaya Bridge: Biscay, Spain

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Vizcaya Bridge is the world's oldest transport bridge and was built in 1893, designed by Alberto Palacio, one of Gustave

Eiffel's disciples. It is a transporter bridge that links the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas in the Biscay province of

Spain,crossing the mouth of the Nervion River. For the locals it's commonly named Puente Colgante that is Spanish for

Suspension Bridge. That constitutes a misnomer, because it is really a transporter bridge, being a different structure

from a suspensionbridge. However, the common name is widely used in the area and even in the official website.

15. East Haddam Bridge: Connecticut, USA

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East Haddam Bridge is a steel, movable (swing) truss bridge composed of two main spans crossing the Connecticut

Riverbetween Haddam, Connecticut and East Haddam, Connecticut. This bridge is reputed to be the longest swing

bridge in theworld. Through the ages, transportation system had became easier and more convenient, thanks to the first

great bridgebuilders in history - the Romans. They erected masonry arch bridges and timber beam bridges throughout

their empire.

For more spectacular bridges from around the world see

20 World's Most Notable Bridges: Architectural and Engineering Feats

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