The longest bridges in the world

Bridges are massive structures made of concrete and metal that weigh thousands of tons and remain standing even during devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Bridges allow people to cross numerous natural obstacles such as lakes and rivers and are an integral part of modern rail transportation.

Despite their importance, you probably don't often read books or articles extolling the greatness of bridges. Let's correct that omission. Here's the longest bridges in the world, the length of which exceeds even Russia’s newest achievement – the 19-kilometer Crimean Bridge.

10. Hangzhou Bay Bridge – 35.6 km

This is a cable-stayed bridge that runs from Jiaxing to Ningbo in China's Zhejiang Province. The longest pedestrian bridge in the world, designed in Switzerland and proudly called the "European Bridge", looks like a tiny thing in comparison to the Chinese bridge. After all, the "European Bridge" is only 494 meters long.

Due to the many challenges that such a massive structure faces, 600 experts spent almost ten years designing the bridge. One of the main problems was building it on the shelf. As a solution, several parts of the bridge were built on land and then transported to the area for which they were built.

In the center of the bridge is a 10,000-square-meter travel service center called "Land Between Sea and Sky." The center includes shops, a parking lot, a restaurant, a hotel, and a 145.6-meter observation tower that serves as a tourist attraction. The center is built on an island, which is a platform resting on stilts so as not to interfere with the sea currents in the bay.

9. Yangcun Bridge – 35.8 km

Built as part of the Beijing-Tianjin railway link, this elevated bridge is used for high-speed trains that travel at 350 kilometers per hour.

8. Manchek Swamp Bridge – 36.7 km

The first, but not the last, bridge built in the United States on our list. Although its daily traffic (about 2,250 vehicles) pales in comparison to some of the country's newer bridges, it remains an engineering feat. After all, the Mancheck Swamp was built in 1979.

The bridge crosses over swamps where, according to legend, the werewolf Lugaru lived and a voodoo priestess lived. Legend has it that the priestess cast a curse on the area, and indeed a hurricane destroyed three towns on the day of her funeral in 1915. Although the previous Manchek Swamp Bridge collapsed in 1976, the current structure successfully resists any curse and remains unbreakable and reliable.

7. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge – 38.4 km

Although the Chinese hold the lead on our list, an American bridge holds the title of the longest continuous span over water. This elevated bridge bisects Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana and is supported by 9,000 concrete piles.

6. Qingdao Bridge – 42.5 km

The construction of the highway connecting the Chinese port city of Qingdao with the suburb of Huangdao was carried out from 2007 to 2011 and required about 60 billion yuan (9.35 billion dollars). The space of the Qingdao Bridge is divided into six lanes, and the multi-ton structure is supported by more than 5,200 pillars. Every day, 300 thousand cars pass through the bridge.

5. Bang Na Highway – 54 km

The six-lane bridge is located in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The highway was completed in 2000 after five long years of work and a billion dollars in funding. The structure required a total of 1,800,000 cubic meters of concrete.

4. Bridge over Wei – 79.7 km

Part of a major railway line between east and west China, the bridge links Zhengzhou in Henan Province and Xi'an in Shaanxi Province. It was the first high-speed passenger railway in western China and cost about 35.3 billion yuan ($5.4 billion).

3. Tianjin Great Bridge – 113.7 km

The third longest viaduct bridge is part of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. It runs between Langfang County and Qingxian County.

2. Zhanghua-Kaohsiung Viaduct, 157.3 km

The bridge is only a few meters short of the world's longest over-water bridge. The Changhua-Kaohsiung Bridge is part of Taiwan's high-speed rail network and carries over 200 million passengers every month.

1. The longest bridge in the world: Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct – 164.8 km

China is not the only country that builds large and expensive bridges. However, only China has built the three longest bridges in the world over water. And the longest of them is the viaduct connecting Shanghai with Nanjing. This grandiose structure is noted in the Guinness Book of Records.

The bridge, which opened in 2011, cost between $8.5 billion and $10 billion, according to various sources. 10,000 people were involved in its construction. In total, the bridge is supported by 9,500 concrete piles.

The Danyang-Kunshan Bridge is unique in that it crosses many different places. It spans rivers, canals, chasms, streams, plains, hills, lakes and rice paddies. The largest body of water it crosses is Lake Yangcheng in Suzhou. The builders faced a difficult task - to make the bridge versatile and as stable as possible. After all, the vast majority of land in the river floodplain consists of soft soil, not hard rock. Therefore, the designers decided to choose the form of a viaduct - a bridge consisting of many small spans, rather than a few very long ones. In this case, the spans will give the bridge the flexibility needed for ascents, descents and turns. At the same time, the viaduct remains very strong throughout its entire length.

However, the title of "the longest suspension bridge in the world" is still held by the creation of Japanese engineers. The total length of the "Pearl" Bridge (Akashi Kaikyo) is 39.1 km. The longest suspension bridge in the world stretches across the Akashi Strait, and connects the city of Kobe on the island of Honshu with the island of Awaji. It is not afraid of strong underwater currents, and if necessary, the structure can withstand tremors of magnitude 8.5.