Mega Bridges Series: Longest Bridges in the World

The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge ranks as the longest bridge in the world with an extraordinary length of 164.8km, spanning several cities in the Jiangsu province of China.

This article is co-written with our invited member, Lavrentiv, of the RList.io community.

Outline

The Longest Bridges
Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge (164.8km) - World's/Asia's Longest
Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge (38.6km) - Longest in the Americas
Crimean Bridge (18.1km) - Longest in Europe
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge - Most Expensive Bridge (US$18.8b)
Resources

1. The Longest Bridges

Let's dig a little in the dataset of the longest bridges in the world today. The dataset below covers more than 250 longest bridges in the world.

Interact with this table to query and rank the highest bridges by country and continent (Credit:Lavrentiv/rList.io)

Use this interactive table tool above to query and rank the250+ longest bridges in the world by country as well as continent.

The Asian continent has the largest share of the longest bridges in the world, at close to 50% (around 125 longest bridges), while North America owns the second-largest share at 28% (around 70+ longest bridges). Europe is ranked third with 11% (around 30 bridges).

In terms of countries, United States owns the most number of the longest bridges at around 66 bridges, accounting for more than 90% of North America's longest bridges and around 25% of the world's share. China is ranked a close second with 52 bridges, accounting for more than 40% of Asia's longest bridges, followed by fellow Asian powerhouse, India, which has around 23 longest bridges.

2. Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge (164.8km) - World's/Asia's Longest

Danyang Kunshan Bridge - longest bridge in the world

Opened on 30 June 2011, the Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the longest bridge in the world and is part of the rail line connecting Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province, with Shanghai. The 164.8-kilometer long viaduct took four years to build (2006-2010) and cost about US$8.5 billion.

Built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge was built with a workforce of 10,000 people, using close to 450,000 tons of steel. The bridge begins from Danyang and continues through Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou before ending in Kunshan, with a 9-km open-water section spanning across Yangcheng Lake (阳澄湖) in Suzhou.

3. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge (38.6km) - Longest in the Americas

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge - longest in the Americas

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge is the longest bridge in the Americas. Located in southern Louisiana, United States, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge stretches a length of 38.62 kilometers, carrying 4 lanes of traffic and averaging 43,000 vehicles daily.

The bridge was completed in 1956 and cuts across Lake Pontchartrain, from the southern terminus in Metairie to the northern terminus in Mandeville, Louisiana.

4. Crimean Bridge (18.1km) - Longest in Europe

Crimean Bridge - longest in Europe

Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Strait Bridge, is the longest bridge in Europe. The 18.10 kilometer-long bridge was first opened for road traffic on May 2018 and subsequently opened for rail traffic in December 2019.

Built at a cost of US$3.5 billion, the Crimean Bridge crosses the Strait of Kerch between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai and the Kerch Peninsular of Crimea and is designed to carry up to 40,000 vehicles and 47 pairs of trains daily.

5. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge - Most Expensive Bridge (US$18.8b)

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge - the US$18.8-billion bridge

Opened on 24 October 2018, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge (HZM bridge) is the most expensive bridge constructed to date at a cost of 127 billion yuan or US$18.8 billion dollars. As its name suggests, the HZM bridge connects Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai - three major cities on the Pearl River Delta.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge stretches 55 kilometers long, composed of three cable-stayed bridges, an undersea tunnel and four artificial islands. The purpose of the 6.7-km undesea tunnel which runs between two artificial islands is to enable shipping to pass through. With the HZM bridge, what was once a 4-hour travel between Zhuhai and Hong Kong has been reduced to a mere 30-minute drive.