25 Longest Bridges In The World

Posted by , Updated on March 24, 2024

Trying to determine the longest bridge in the world is no easy task. In the past several years there have been numerous “measurement wars” fought over the length of Earth’s longest bridges. The primary reason for this is that it’s hard to define what exactly constitutes a bridge. Does it have to be over water? Are elevated roadways bridges? What if only part of the bridge is over water? Although these are legitimate questions if you are competing for a Guinness World Record, for our purposes we will not discriminate against any particular type of bridge. So with that said, these are the 25 Longest Bridges In The World.
25

Saratov Bridge

saratov bridge

The Saratov Bridge across the Volga River in Saratov, Russia, was the longest bridge in the Soviet Union upon its inauguration in 1965. Its length is 2,803.7 meters, and it connects Saratov on the right (west) bank of the Volga, with the city of Engels on the left (east) bank. In 2008, a new bridge was being built and in 2009 a second part was completed and opened, making the new total length of 12,760 meters.

24

Jubilee Parkway

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The Jubilee Parkway is a pair of parallel concrete viaduct bridges that carry Interstate 10 across Mobile Bay from the George Wallace Tunnel on Blakeley Island in Mobile, Alabama, eastbound to Spanish Fort/Daphne, Alabama. Sadly the bridge was witness to one of the largest multi-car accidents in 1995, killing one person and injuring ninety. 

23

Confederation Bridge

confederation bridge

The Confederation Bridge is a bridge spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick, Canada. It has been referred to as the longest bridge in the world to span a body of ice during winter months. Interesting fact – drivers only have to pay a toll to leave the island. 

22

President Bridge

president bridge in russia

The President Bridge is a truss bridge that crosses over the river Volga in Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, connecting the city of Ulyanovsk with the east side of the Ulyanovsk Oblast. It is the second longest bridge in Russia, and one of the longest bridges in Europe with a length of 19.98 kilometres. The bridge holds up to 40,000 vehicles per day. 

21

Bhumibol Bridge

Bhumibol_Bridge_(สะพานภูมิพล)_-_Bangkok_(5014628977)

Also known as the Industrial Ring Road Bridge, Bhumibol is part of the 13 km long Industrial Ring Road connecting southern Bangkok with Samut Prakan Province. The bridge crosses the Chao Phraya River twice, with two striking cable-stayed spans of lengths of 702 m and 582 m supported by two diamond-shaped pylons 173 m and 164 m high. In 2009, it was named after King Bhumidol Adulyadej because according to tradition, all bridges that run on the Chao Phraya in Bangkhok are named after members of the Royal Family. 

20

Rio–Niterói Bridge

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President Costa e Silva Bridge, commonly known as the Rio-Niteroi Bridge, is a box girder bridge located at Guanabara Bay, in the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It connects the cities of Rio de Janeiro and the municipality of Niterói. It is currently the longest prestressed concrete bridge in the southern hemisphere, and the sixth longest in the world. It was originally named President Costa e Silva Bridge but rarely is it called that today.

19

Penang Bridge

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Penang Bridge is a dual carriageway toll bridge connecting George Town on the island of Penang and Seberang Prai on the mainland of Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. The total length of the bridge is 13.5 km (8.4 mi), making it the longest bridge in Malaysia and the fourth-longest in Southeast Asia. Up until 2014, it was the only connection between the peninsula and the island.

18

Kama Bridge

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The Kama Bridge is a bridge on the highway R239 near Soroch’i Gory settlement in Tatarstan, Russia. It is a part of the longest bridge structure in Russia if measured by the total length of elevated roadway. The bridge is part of the longest artificial road structure in Russia. It’s considered very important because it’s part of a highway that connects the towns and cities of Kazan, Christopol, Bugulma, and Orenberg.

17

Vasco da Gama Bridge

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The Vasco da Gama Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts and range views that spans the Tagus River near Lisbon, capital of Portugal. It’s the longest bridge in Europe (including viaducts), with a total length of 17.2 km (10.7 mi). The bridge also has six lanes of traffic (soon to be eight when there is more traffic) and 75 mph speed limit.

16

Aérotrain Test Track

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Although it has fallen out of use, the Aérotrain Test Track was where the French Aérotrain high speed rail was being tested in the 1970’s. Despite portions of the extensive track having been demolished, it is still visible today.

15

Incheon Bridge

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The Incheon Bridge (also called the Incheon Grand Bridge) is a newly-constructed reinforced concrete bridge in South Korea. At its opening in October 2009, it became the second connection between Yeongjong Island and the mainland of Incheon. It also is the seventh longest spanning cable stayed bridge and is 12.3 kilometers long. 

14

6th October Bridge

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The 6th October Bridge is an elevated highway in central Cairo, Egypt. The 20.5 kilometers (12.7 mi) bridge and causeway crosses the Nile River twice from the west bank suburbs, east through Gezira Island to Downtown Cairo, and on to connect the city to the Cairo International Airport to the east. Its name commemorates the date of ‘The Crossing’ which commenced the outbreak day of the Yom Kippur War War in 1973. In 2011, during the Egyptian Revolution, the bridge had been the route of travel for protests in Tahrir Square as well as fights between those who were pro-Mubarek and anti-Mubarek. 

13

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Chesapeake_Bay_Bridge-Tunnel,_Virginia_Beach_Area

The bridge-tunnel originally combined 12 miles (19 km) of trestle, two 1-mile (1.6 km) long tunnels, four artificial islands, two high-level bridges, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) of causeway, and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) of approach roads crossing Chesapeake Bay. Fun fact! In 1987, the tunnel of the bridge was officially named Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge–Tunnel after one of the civic leaders who worked long and hard on the bridge. However, it’s more known now as Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

12

Jintang Bridge

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Jintang Bridge is a highway bridge with a cable-stayed bridge portion, built in Zhejiang, China, on the Zhoushan Archipelago, the largest offshore island group in China. The Jingtang Bridge has also been around for a lot of important Chinese history, such as the coming together of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army during the Beiping-Tianjin Campaign. The people of Tianjin refer to it as ‘The Glass Bridge.”

11

Jiaozhou Bay Bridge

1920px-山东_青岛_胶洲湾大桥_-_panoramio

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge is considered the longest bridge in the world over water using aggregate lengths standards (parts of it are suspended over dry land). This bridge is 42.6 kilometers (26.5 miles) long but spans over water for only 25.9 kilometers (16.1 miles). It’s also the other bridge that competed with Lake Pontchartrain Causeway over which was the longest bridge over water, causing Guinness to create two longest bridge over water categories. 

10

Atchafalaya Basin Bridge

Atchafalaya Basin Bridge

The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is a pair of parallel bridges in the US state of Louisiana between Baton Rouge and Lafayette which carries Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin. It’s also known as the Louisiana Memorial Airborne Bridge. When one is traveling on these bridges, it’s advised you do so with caution. It has been reported there are a lot of accidents due to the narrowness of the two river crossings and lack of shoulder. Apparently, accidents were so bad that in 1999, the Governor had to lower the speed limit from 70 mph to 60 mph.

9

Zhuhai-Macau Bridge

800px-Hong_Kong-Zhuhai-Macau_Bridge_near_Tung_Chung_(2018908111736)

The Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is a 34-mile-long bridge in Hong Kong that consists of three-cable stayed bridges, an under sea tunnel, and four artificial islands. The bridge was built to last 120 years and cost 126.9 billion yuan, which equals to 18.77 billion U.S. dollars. It currently holds the title of longest sea-crossing bridge. 

8

Donghai Bridge

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Donghai Bridge is one of the longest cross-sea bridges in the world. It has a total length of 32.5 kilometers (20.2 mi) and connects mainland Shanghai and the offshore Yangshan deep-water port in China. Due to the narrowness of the speedway on the bridge, vehicles that are too heavy cannot travel on it.

7

Runyang Bridge

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The Runyang Bridge is a large bridge complex that crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China, downstream of Nanjing. The complex consists of two major bridges that link Zhenjiang on the south bank of the river and Yangzhou on the north. The bridge is part of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway. It holds the record as world’s third largest suspension bridge span as well as the largest bridge in China. 

6

Hangzhou Bay Bridge

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At 35.673 km (22 mi) in length, Hangzhou Bay Bridge is one of the longest trans-oceanic bridges in the world. The purpose of this bridge was to reduce travel time from Ningbo and Shanghai. It succeeded in doing so; while it used to take four hours time, it now takes two. 

5

Manchac Swamp Bridge

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The Manchac Swamp Bridge is a twin concrete trestle bridge in the US state of Louisiana. It is located around Lake Pontchartrain, a lake well known for its incredibly long bridges, as you will see in a moment. Although the bridge is totally safe to drive on, Louisiana legend says that the bridge is haunted by a Cajun werewolf known as a “Rougarou” and a voodoo princess. However, despite these spooky tales, the only thing that drivers should be cautious of is not to get too close to the alligators that make a home on the waters under the bridge.

4

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

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The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, or the Causeway, is considered to be the longest bridge in the United States and the longest bridge in the world over water (continuous). It consists of two parallel bridges crossing Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana, United States. The longer of the two bridges is 23.83 miles (38.35 km) long. There was some controversy with Guinness over the title of the longest bridge over water. For over 10 years, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was listed in the book for being the longest bridge over water. However, in 2011, Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China was given the title of the longest bridge over water. Many Lake Pontchartrain record holders in the U.S. disputed this with Guinness stating that the causeway ran for 23.79 miles over water; therefore, it was the longest. Guinness ended the controversy by creating two categories, one for the longest bridge (continuous), which was given to Lake Pontchartrain, and longest bridge (aggregate), which was given to Jiazhou.

3

Bang Na Expressway

bang na bridge

The Bang Na Expressway is a 55 km long six-lane elevated highway in Thailand. The bridge is a six-lane highway that runs on the Bang Na–Trat Highway. It was often considered to be one of the longest bridges in the world (until 2010 the longest), but it’s excluded from some lists since it does not cross a body of water for most of its length. The largest body of water that it crosses is the Bang Pakong River.

2

Tianjin Grand Bridge

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Tianjin Grand Bridge is a railway viaduct bridge that runs between Langfang and Qingxian, part of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway. It is one of the longest bridges in the world with a total length of about 113,700 m (373,000 ft), or 113.7 , (70.6 mi). According to Guinness, it holds the title for the second longest bridge in the world.

1

Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge

640px-201603_Danyang-Kunshan_grand_bridge_(wuxi)

The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the world’s longest bridge and is currently in the Guinness Book of World Records with that title. It is a 164.8 kilometers (102.4 mi) long viaduct on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway where the geography is characterized by lowland rice paddies, canals, rivers, and lakes. It took four years to build and cost over 8 billion dollars. 



Photo: Featured Image - Michel Rathwell via flickr, Bridge PEI, CC BY 2.0, 1. By MNXANL - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link, 2. xiquinho silva, Tianjin, CC BY 2.0, 3. shutterstock, 4. Navin Rajagopalan, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway 2011, CC BY-SA 2.0 , 5. Melanie Commander Thibodaux, Manchac Bridge, CC BY 3.0 , 6. Glabb, Hangzhou Bay Bridge South, CC BY-SA 3.0 , 7. Wang Huasheng, Bushes in Runyang Bridge Park, CC BY 3.0 , 8. JulyYu, Donghai Bridge-3, CC BY-SA 2.0 , 9. N509FZ, West section of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (20180902174105), CC BY-SA 4.0 , 10. N509FZ, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge near Tung Chung (2018908111736), CC BY-SA 4.0 , 11. By Nyx Ning, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link, 12. Liujinguang, Jintang Bridge-2, CC BY-SA 2.0 , 13. By Ole Bendik Kvisberg - Flickr: Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, CC BY 2.0, Link, 14. Staeiou, 6th October Bridge, CC BY-SA 3.0 , 15. Jinho Jung on Flickr, Incheon bridge (1), CC BY-SA 2.0 , 16. Timothy E Baldwin via flickr, Aerotrain test track, CC BY-SA 2.0, 17. F H Mira, Vasco da Gama Bridge, CC BY-SA 2.0 , 18. https://pixabay.com/en/permian-kama-river-bridge-741869/ (Public Domain), 19. Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia, Penang Bridge in extension, CC BY-SA 2.0 , 20. Jorge Andrade, Rio-Niterói Bridge, Brazil (13), CC BY 2.0 , 21. By Mike Behnken - Bhumibol Bridge (สะพานภูมิพล) - Bangkok, CC BY 2.0, Link, 22. shutterstock, 23. Michel Rathwell via flickr, Bridge PEI, CC BY 2.0, 24. By Brent Walker from Marietta, GA, USA - originally posted to Flickr as Between the Bridges, CC BY 2.0, Link, 25. U.Steele, Saratov Bridge, CC BY-SA 3.0