TOP 10 HIGHEST BRIDGES IN THE WORLD
TOP 10 HIGHEST BRIDGES IN THE WORLD
10. THE VERRAZANO-NARROWS BRIDGE
Named after the famed Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, this bridge has 693 foot high towers and has a center span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m). From the time it was completed in 1964 until 1981, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. It has remained to be so in America and is widely-known among others for being the starting point of the New York Marathon. This bridge connects Brooklyn with Staten Island and has played a crucial role in development of this region of the Big Apple.
9. LE PONT DE NORMANDIE
This bridge, located in France, is 2800 feet long, rises 165 feet above the water level and links Honfleur and Le Havre over the Siene River. At the time of its completion, the construction cost reached 465 million dollars but the structure carried the distinction of being the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge. To the dismay of the French builders, this record was beaten shortly in 1998 by the Tartara bridge of Hiroshima, Japan. France remains proud of their suspension bridge, as it stands as one of Europe’s most noted engineering feats in recent years.
8. PENANG BRIDGE / JAMBATAN PULAU PENANG
Apart from the world-renowned Petronas Towers, Malaysia boasts the Penang Bridge (known locally as Jambatan Pualau Panang) as another of its national structural gems. Considered to be the third longest bridge in the world, the Penang bridge stands 8.4 km above water, has four towers in midspan standing 101.5 meters tall and stretches 13.5 km from Seberang Prai on the Malaysian mainland to Gelugor on Penang Island. It took 40 years since its initial conception for it to materialize and formally open in 1985. The bridge now services more than 70,000 people a day and remains a source of pride for Malaysians.
7. TATARA BRIDGE
Now it’s Japan’s turn. The Tatara Bridge links the Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea and is known to have the longest span of any cable-stayed bridge in the world. It has 220 meter steel towers and has a center span of 890 meters. This Japanese marvel opened in 1999 and is part of the famous Mishieto Expressway. The bridge took a mere six years to build and has been made structurally sound enough to withstand big earthquakes. It is Japanese engineering ingenuity at its finest.
6. THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
This elegant suspension bridge has been featured in countless novels, shows, movies and spans the magnificent Golden Gate. It has a height of 227.4 meters and connects the city of San Francisco to Marin County. Despite facing stern opposition and lawsuits from different sectors with vested interests, the bridge’s construction was completed in 1937. This facilitated economic growth rate in the city and in the surrounding areas. Both an architectural and cultural treasure, the Golden Gate has become dear to many people’s hearts.
5. THE GREAT BELT FIXED LINK
This bridge is Europe’s highest and connects the Zealand and Funen islands of Denmark across the Great Belt. Completed in 1998, it has a height of 254 m and consists of a road suspension bridge, a railway tunnel and a box girder bridge. The term “Great Belt Bridge” ordinarily pertained to the suspension bridge (but may also refer to the whole link) and is considered to have the world’s second-longest free span at 1.6 km. As in other cases of major bridges, its construction has paved the way for better businesses in the region. This in the long run may well justify the massive bridge construction cost spent - DKK 21.4 billion, the most costly in the history of Denmark.
4. NEW RIVER GORGE BRIDGE
Another of America’s great bridges, this steel-arch bridge in Fayettteville, West Virginia was completed in 1977. It stands a daunting 267 meters over the New River and the CSX Railroad, and its arch extends 518m. More than 17,000 cars cross the bridge daily and it is considered the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas. The New River Gorge Bridge was the longest steel-arch bridge before France’s famous Millau Viaduct came along two decades later. This bridge is famous for hosting extreme-sports such as rappelling and base-jumping during the festivities of Fayette County ’s Bridge Day.
3. AKASHI-KAIKYŌ BRIDGE
The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (or Pearl Bridge to some) stands a dizzying 298.3 meters high above the Akashi Strait and connects the popular city of Kobe on the Honshu mainland to Iwaya on Awaji Island. Completed in 1998, this bridge is the world’s longest suspension bridge, with a center span of 1,991 meters.
2. ROYAL GORGE BRIDGE
The Royal Gorge Bridge at 321 meters above the Arkansas River, is the highest bridge in the U.S., the highest suspension bridge in the world and second tallest bridge overall. Located near Canon City, Colorado, the bridge is the center-piece of a popular tourist attraction that also features a theme park. This bridge was completed in 1929, is 384 meters long, 5 meters wide and is suspended from towers that are 46 meters high. It has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was constructed mainly for tourism purposes.
1. MILLAU VIADUCT
France’s Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road bridge which, at the nose-bleed height of 343 meters at mast’s summit, is considered the tallest bridge in the world. It is, indeed, a very impressive bridge: it is slightly taller than France’s other architectural darling, the Eiffel Tower and only a few meters short of the Empire State Building. This massive structure spans the valley of River Tran near Millau and has even been featured in the National Geographic show “Megastructures.” After its inauguration in 2004, led by no other but France’s then President Jacque Chirac, the bridge has greatly decongested traffic in the region and has undoubtedly given the French yet another reason to be proud of their storied nation.
