The 15 Longest Bridges in the World

What are the longest bridges in the world? For a layperson, it is difficult to understand how these engineering giants manage to develop a bridge standing, supporting cars, trucks, in some cases trains, in addition to winds that can reach hundreds of kilometers per hour.

Of the 15 longest bridges in the world in extension, seven are in China, three in the USA, and one in Brazil. The oldest dates from 1969 and the newest from 2018. Are you ready to know all of them?

Longest Bridges In The World

15. Rio-Niterói Bridge

The Rio-Niteroi Bridge
  • Country Brazil
  • Length: 13.3 km
  • Opening: 1974

She is the Brazilian representative on this list of giants. The longest bridge in Latin America crosses Guanabara Bay, connecting the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói. It took almost six years to build.

14. Penang Bridge

Penang Bridge
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Length: 13.5 km
  • Opening: 1985

The longest bridge in Malaysia and the country’s postcard connects George Town on the island of Penang, the Malaysian mainland territory. The cable-stayed bridge project dates from the beginning of the 70s, although the works only started in 1980.

13. Vasco da Gama Bridge

Vasco da Gama Bridge - One of the longest bridges in the world
  • Country: Portugal
  • Length: 17 km
  • Opening: 1998

It is the 2nd longest bridge in Europe, just behind the Crimean Bridge. With its 150 beams, it connects the districts of Setúbal and Lisbon, passing over the Tagus River. Its construction took place between 1995 and 1998 and involved more than 3 thousand workers.

12. Crimean bridge

Crimean bridge
  • Country: Russia
  • Length: 16.9 km (highway bridge) and 18.1 km (railway bridge)
  • Opening: 2018

The Crimean Bridge, the longest in all of Europe, is actually a set of two parallel bridges that connect Crimea to the Taman Peninsula, crossing the Kerch Strait, which joins the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov. It took 3 years to build.

11. King Fahd Bridge

King Fahd Bridge - one of the largest bridges in the world
  • Countries: Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
  • Length: 25 km
  • Opening: 1986

In 1981, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain signed the contract that would set this world engineering colossus on its feet. The works started in 1982. There are 4 tracks supported by 147 thousand tons of steel that pass over the Persian Gulf.

10. Atchafalaya Basin Bridge

Atchafalaya Basin Bridge
  • Country: USA
  • Length: 29.3 km
  • Opening: 1973

There are two parallel bridges that go over the huge swamp in the basin of the Atchafalaya River, connecting the cities of Lafayette and Baton Rouge, in the state of Louisiana. At some points on this long crossing, the driver drives at the height of the treetops. It must be a very interesting trip!

9. Donghai Bridge

Donghai Bridge - one of the largest bridges in the world

  • Country: China
  • Length: 32.5 km
  • Opening: 2005

The East Sea Bridge connects Shanghai, China’s largest city, to the deep-water port of Yangshan, located in the coastal province of Zhejiang. It started to be built in 2002 and is one of the largest bridges over the sea in the world.

8. Runyang Bridge

Runyang Bridge
  • Country: China
  • Length: 35.6 km
  • Opening: 2005

Located in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, the Runyang Bridge crosses the Yangtze River. It is a cable-stayed bridge (which is a type of cable suspension bridge) built to serve as a motorway. It took almost 5 years to build.

7. Hangzhou Bay Bridge

Hangzhou Bay Bridge - one of the longest bridges in the world
  • Country: China
  • Length: 36 km
  • Opening: 2008

Another gigantic cable-stayed bridge. Another gigantic Chinese bridge. It gets its name because it crosses Hangzhou Bay, on the East China Sea, connecting Shanghai and the port city of Ningbo. It started to be built in 2003.

6. Manchac Swamp Bridge

Manchac Swamp Bridge
  • Country: USA
  • Length: 36.7 km
  • Opening: 1979

The second-longest bridge in the United States crosses Lake Maurepas, located in southeastern Louisiana. Due to the unstable terrain, the support pillars of this gigantic bridge are 76 meters below the ground.

5. Pontchartrain Lake Bridge

Pontchartrain Lake Bridge
  • Country: USA
  • Length: 38.4 km
  • Inauguration: 1956 (south side) and 1969 (north side)

One of the most impressive things about this bridge, located in the southern region of the state of Louisiana, in addition to its spectacular size, is the speed with which it was built: only 1 year. And if we think it was in the mid-50s, it gets even more incredible. 

To support these two parallel bridges, 9,500 concrete pillars were used. It was the longest bridge in the world until the early years of the 21st century when it was overtaken by Chinese giants.

4. Qingdao Haiwan Bridge

Qingdao Haiwan Bridge
  • Country: China
  • Length: 42.5 km
  • Opening: 2011

When it started to be built in 2007, it was already known that the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge would become the largest in the world in extension, surpassing the Pontchartrain Lake Bridge, which led the ranking since the distant year of 1969. It is in the port city of Qingdao, in Shandong province, at the eastern end of Chinese territory.

3. Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge:

Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge
  • Country: China
  • Length: 55 km
  • Opening: 2018

With an incredible 55 km long and 400 thousand tons of steel, Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai is the largest sea bridge in the world! As the name implies, it links the cities of Hong Kong and Macau, crossing the South China Sea. The construction lasted almost a decade, consumed about $ 15 billion.

This spectacular construction contains, in addition to a series of cable-stayed bridges, an underwater tunnel, and three artificial islands interconnecting its stretches.

Because it is located on the terrible typhoon route, it was built to withstand winds of up to 340 km / h. Incredible, isn’t it?

2. Tianjin Great Bridge

Tianjin Great Bridge

  • Country: China
  • Length: 113.7 km
  • Opening: 2011

The second-longest bridge in the world is a giant overpass that integrates the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line. The Great Tianjin Bridge connects the cities of Langfang and Qingxian, in northern China.

1. The Great Danyang-Kunshan Bridge: The longest bridge in the world!

the longest bridge in the world
  • Country: China
  • Length: 164.8 km
  • Opening: 2011

Lastly on our list of longest bridges in the world is the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, it is also part of the Jinghu high-speed railway, the famous Beijing-Shanghai, which is 1,318 km long and has 224 bridges in total. Danyang-Kunshan is a bridge by wave passing (or flying) bullet trains at an average speed of 350 km/h.

According to Guinness, since 2011, when it was inaugurated, it is the largest bridge that human beings have ever been able to build. Just to have an idea of ​​its extension, this bridge would be able to connect the cities of São Paulo and Piracicaba, and it would be enough to connect Rio de Janeiro to Volta Redonda.

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