The 7 Longest Bridges in the World

The lengthiest bridges in the world come in a variety of styles, stand in disparate heights, and are located in different countries.

Currently the Guinness World Records’ record-holder for being the longest bridge in the world, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge is a magnificent viaduct that runs through the cities of Kunshan, Shunzou, Wixo, Changzhou, and Danyang. The bridge, which has a total length of 164,800 metres (164.8 kilometres), costs more than 8 billion USD to build and took around four years to complete.

Located in Taiwan, the Changhua-Kaohsiung Viaduct is the second-longest bridge in the world and was the former longest bridge until the completion of the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in 2010. The bridge, which acts as a viaduct for the Taiwan High-Speed Rail network’s railway, boasts a total length of 157,317 metres (157.3 kilometres) and was designed to survive seismic events.

The Tianjin Grand Bridge is a viaduct bridge that extends 113,700 metres (113.7 kilometres) between the cities of Langfang and Qingxian and acts as a part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. Although Taiwan’s Changhua-Kaohsiung Viaduct is lengthier, the Guinness World Records considers the Tianjin Grand Bridge as the second-longest bridge for some reason.

Known as the world’s fourth-longest bridge, the Cangde Grand Bridge has a total length of 105,810 metres (or 105.81 kilometres) and is a part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. The super bridge was designed to be earthquake resistant to allow cars to safely pass through during seismic events.

Impressively the fourth entry from China in this list, the Weinan Weihe Grand Bridge extends 79,732 metres (or 79.7 kilometres) between the megacities of Xi’an and Zhengzhou. And just like the other entries from China on this list, the Weinan Weihe Grand Bridge is also a part of a railway – the Zhengzhou-Xi’an High-Speed Railway. Due to the bridge’s absurd length, it crosses the Wei River two times, along with numerous rivers and railways.

Once the proud title holder of the world’s longest bridge, Thailand’s Bang Na Expressway is a six-lane overpass-style bridge that is 54,000 metres (or 54 kilometres) in length and is made of many spans, which have an average length of 42 metres. The super long bridge, which is 27 metres wide, took 1.8 million cubic metres of concrete to construct and was built span-by-span and section-by-section. The elevated structure also has two toll plazas.

China really loves its bridges. The Beijing Grand Bridge is a long railway viaduct that boasts a total length of 48,154 metres (or 48.1 kilometres). It is part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway. Aside from its enormous length, not much is known about the Beijing Grand Bridge, making it an enigmatic structure that proudly holds the record for being one of the world’s longest bridges.