The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (i.e., the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of the main span is the most common method of comparing the sizes of suspension bridges, often correlating with the height of the towers and the engineering complexity involved in designing and constructing the bridge.[4] If one bridge has a longer span than another, it does not necessarily mean that the bridge is longer from shore to shore (or from abutment to abutment).
Suspension bridges have the longest spans of any type of bridge. Cable-stayed bridges, the next longest design, are practical for spans up to just over 1 kilometre. Therefore, as of 2021[update], the 31 longest bridges on this list are the 31 longest spans of all types of vehicular bridges (other than floating pontoon bridges).
Currently, the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey holds the record since opening to traffic in March 2022, with a span of 2,023 metres (6,637 ft).[1][3] Since 1998, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan previously held the record with a span of 1,991 metres (6,532 ft).
Completed suspension bridges
This list includes only completed suspension bridges that carry automobiles or trains that are at least 1,000 m (3,300 ft) long. It does not include cable-stayed bridges, footbridges, or pipeline bridges.
Green
Denotes bridge that contains or previously contained the longest span in the world
Most of the large suspension bridges built in recent years have been in the People's Republic of China. As the following list shows, most of the bridges under construction are also in China.
Name
Main span metres (feet)
Year to open
Location
Country
Ref.
Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge (South span)
Chain suspension footbridge south of Lhasa, built by Thangtong Gyalpo. Reported by British spies to still be in use in 1878. Later (before 1904) fell into disuse after river course changed, swamping the northern end.[87] Dynamited by Chinese soldiers after the Battle of Chamdo in 1950.[88]
It was the longest suspension span but not the longest span of all bridges. The Forth Bridge, completed in 1890, a cantilever bridge with two spans of 521 m was longer until surpassed by the Quebec Bridge in 1917.
It was the longest suspension span but not the longest span of all bridges. The Quebec Bridge completed in 1917, a cantilever bridge with a span of 549 m was longer until surpassed in 1929 by the Ambassador Bridge.
The first suspension bridge to have a concrete deck. The construction methods pioneered in building it would make possible several much larger projects to follow.
Sidu River Bridge (China). Opened in 2009, it is the highest suspension bridge in the world at 472 m elevation and the second highest bridge of any type.
Tacoma Narrows Bridges (Washington, United States). Opened in 1950 and 2007, the pair of bridges with the longest spans in the world (853 m [2,799 ft]).
Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Turkey). Opened in 2016, it has longest span carrying road and rail traffic (1,408 m [4,619 ft]).
George Washington Bridge (New York and New Jersey, United States). Opened in 1931, it is the suspension bridge with the most lanes of traffic (at fourteen total on two levels).
Kurushima-Kaikyō Bridge (Japan). Opened in 1999, it is the world's longest suspension bridge structure.
Great Seto Bridge (Japan). Opened in 1978 and 1988, it is the longest two-tiered bridge system (but not all of the spans that make up the bridge system are suspension bridges).
Sky Bridge 721 (Czech Republic). Opened in 2022, it is the longest suspension pedestrian bridge in the world (721 m).[95]
^Duan, Lian (2014). "Longest Bridges and Bridge Spans". In Chen, Wai-Fah; Duan, Lian (eds.). Handbook of International Bridge Engineering. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 1307. ISBN978-1-4398-1029-3. Retrieved 3 February 2015 – via google books. The total length often reflects a project size, while the span length commonly correlates with the engineering complexity involved in designing and constructing of the bridge.
^Virola, Juhani. "World's Longest Bridge Spans". Laboratory of Bridge Engineering (LBE), Helsinki University of Technology. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2009.
Note: Some of the information posted on the following sites may differ from that above. As of 21 February 2006, the sites were out of date or inaccurate as noted in parentheses
Denenberg, David, Bridgemeister.com (an extensive inventory of more than 4,600 suspension bridges)
Janberg, Nicolas, Suspension bridges, Structurae.de (an extensive database of structures including many suspension bridges)
Virola, Eur Ing Juhani, Two Millennia - Two Long-Span Suspension Bridges, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, ATSE Focus No 124, November/December 2002 (revised information up to date as of 2005)
Virola, Eur Ing Juhani, World's Longest Bridge SpansArchived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Laboratory of Bridge Engineering (LBE), Helsinki University of Technology (includes bridges that have not yet been completed)
Further reading
Podolny, Walter Jr.; Goodyear, David (2006). "Cable-suspended bridges". In Roger L. Brockenbrough (ed.). Structural steel designer's handbook : AISC, AASHTO, AISI, ASTM, AREMA, and ASCE-07 design standards (4 ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. pp. 15.13–15.16. ISBN0071432183.—includes a list of major suspension bridges by length
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