The longest bridge in the world is the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, which runs 164.8 km (102.4 miles) across the flat country between Shanghai and Nanjing. It carries the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, opened in June 2011, and it is more than four times the length of anything in Europe or North America.
It is also not a bridge in the sense most people picture. Only about 9 km of it crosses open water, at Yangcheng Lake. The rest is elevated track on concrete piers above rice paddies, canals and roads, which is how nine of the ten longest structures on earth came to be built in the space of twenty years.
The 10 Longest Bridges Ranked by Total Length
| # | Bridge | Country | Length | Opened | Carries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge | China | 164.8 km (102.4 mi) | 2011 | High-speed rail |
| 2 | Changhua-Kaohsiung Viaduct | Taiwan | 157.3 km (97.7 mi) | 2007 | High-speed rail |
| 3 | Tianjin Grand Bridge | China | 113.7 km (70.6 mi) | 2011 | High-speed rail |
| 4 | Cangde Grand Bridge | China | 105.9 km (65.8 mi) | 2011 | High-speed rail |
| 5 | Weinan Weihe Grand Bridge | China | 79.7 km (49.5 mi) | 2010 | High-speed rail |
| 6 | Bang Na Expressway | Thailand | 54 km (33.5 mi) | 2000 | Road |
| 7 | Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge | China | 48.3 km (30.0 mi) | 2018 | Road |
| 8 | Beijing Grand Bridge | China | 48.2 km (29.9 mi) | 2011 | High-speed rail |
| 9 | Metro Manila Skyway | Philippines | 39.2 km (24.4 mi) | 2021 | Road |
| 10 | Lake Pontchartrain Causeway | United States | 38.4 km (23.9 mi) | 1969 | Road |
Seven of the ten carry trains rather than cars, and six of those seven were built in China between 2008 and 2011.
Every Bridge in the Top 10, in Order
1. Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge: 164.8 km
China · 164.8 km (102.4 mi) · opened June 2011 · high-speed rail
The bridge runs roughly parallel to the Yangtze, between 8 and 80 km south of it, carrying the Beijing-Shanghai line across the Yangtze River Delta. It is recognised by Guinness World Records as the longest bridge of any type.
Building up rather than across was the cheaper answer here. The delta is soft, waterlogged and densely farmed, and piers take far less land than an embankment while leaving the drainage and the field boundaries underneath intact.
2. Changhua-Kaohsiung Viaduct: 157.3 km
Taiwan · 157.3 km (97.7 mi) · entered service 2007 · high-speed rail
Taiwan High Speed Rail runs on this structure from Baguashan in Changhua County to Zuoying in Kaohsiung, a continuous elevated run of 157.3 km down the island’s west coast.
It crosses an active fault zone, and the viaduct form was chosen partly for that reason. Individual spans can be replaced after seismic damage without taking down the line either side of them.
3. Tianjin Grand Bridge: 113.7 km
China · 113.7 km (70.6 mi) · opened June 2011 · high-speed rail
Another section of the Beijing-Shanghai line, running 113.7 km between Langfang in Hebei and Qingxian in Tianjin. Some records list it under the name Langfang-Qingxian viaduct.
The ground here is farmland and small towns rather than water. Elevating the track removed every level crossing on the stretch, which is what makes 350 km/h running possible.
4. Cangde Grand Bridge: 105.9 km
China · 105.9 km (65.8 mi) · opened 2011 · high-speed rail
The Cangde bridge carries the same Beijing-Shanghai line for 105.9 km through Hebei, stepping over rivers, canals, roads and existing railway lines on the way.
It was engineered for ground that shifts. The design accounts for regional subsidence caused by groundwater extraction, a problem across the North China Plain that would wreck a conventional embankment over a few decades.
5. Weinan Weihe Grand Bridge: 79.7 km
China · 79.7 km (49.5 mi) · line opened February 2010 · high-speed rail
Part of the Zhengzhou-Xi’an line, this one crosses the Wei River twice, along with the Ling and Luofu rivers and a tangle of roads and railways around Weinan.
It briefly held the title of longest bridge in the world after completion in 2008, then lost it to the Beijing-Shanghai structures that opened three years later.
6. Bang Na Expressway: 54 km
Thailand · 54 km (33.5 mi) · opened 7 February 2000 · road
The Bang Na Expressway, also called Burapha Withi, is a six-lane elevated toll road built above National Highway 34 from Bangkok towards Chon Buri. It holds the Guinness World Records title for the longest road bridge.
It was the longest bridge of any kind when it opened and it is still the longest built for cars. Almost none of it is over water: it was put on piers because there was no room at ground level in eastern Bangkok.
7. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge: 48.3 km
China · 48.3 km (30.0 mi) aggregate over water · opened 23 October 2018 · road
This crossing links Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau across the Pearl River Delta. The figure above is its aggregate length over water. The main bridge-tunnel section is 29.6 km, and the crossing authority puts the whole project including link roads at 55 km.
A 6.7 km immersed tunnel sits in the middle of it, dropping below the shipping lane to Guangzhou so that container traffic is not forced under a fixed span. Four artificial islands were built to make the transitions.
8. Beijing Grand Bridge: 48.2 km
China · 48.2 km (29.9 mi) · opened 2011 · high-speed rail
The southern approach to Beijing on the Beijing-Shanghai line, running 48.2 km out towards Langfang over dense suburban development.
Land acquisition drove the design. Threading a surface railway through built-up southern Beijing would have meant demolition on a scale that piers above the existing streets avoided.
9. Metro Manila Skyway: 39.2 km
Philippines · 39.2 km (24.4 mi) · completed in stages to 2021 · road
The Skyway system runs 39.2 km above Metro Manila, linking the South Luzon and North Luzon expressways and crossing the Pasig River. Stage 1 opened in 1998, Stage 3 in 2021.
It is the longest elevated road in Southeast Asia and was built for one reason: there is no spare ground in Manila, so the only available route was above the streets already there.
10. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway: 38.4 km
United States · 38.4 km (23.9 mi) · second span opened 10 May 1969 · road
The Causeway carries traffic straight across Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, from Metairie to Mandeville. It is the longest bridge over water measured continuously, a record held since 1969, and the longest structure on this list that is genuinely over water for its whole length.
It is two parallel bridges rather than one. The first span opened on 30 August 1956 and the second on 10 May 1969, each carrying traffic in one direction on more than 9,000 concrete piles.
Why the Rankings Disagree With Each Other
There is no standard definition of how long a bridge is, and four different measures are in common use. Each one produces a different winner.
- End to end, including approaches. This is how the Chinese and Taiwanese viaducts are measured, and it is the definition that puts Danyang-Kunshan first.
- Continuous length over water. Only the uninterrupted span across water counts. Lake Pontchartrain leads under this one at 38.4 km.
- Aggregate length over water. Land bridges and tunnel sections are added together. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge leads at 48.3 km.
- Bridge only, tunnel excluded. Applied to Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau this gives 22.9 km for the sea viaduct alone, and drops it out of the top ten entirely.
One structure can therefore be quoted at 22.9 km, 29.6 km, 48.3 km or 55 km and every figure is correct for its own definition. The ranking above uses total structure length, which is the measure the first nine entries have in common.
The same problem turns up in any superlative built on a measurement rather than a count, which is why the list of the longest rivers in the world is settled and the longest bridge is not.
Longest Bridges Over Water
Strip out the land viaducts and the ranking changes completely, because most of the giants above barely touch water.
| Category | Holder | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Continuous over water | Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, United States | 38.4 km (23.9 mi) |
| Aggregate over water | Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, China | 48.3 km (30.0 mi) |
| Longest bridge-tunnel | Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, China | 29.6 km (18.4 mi) |
| Longest road bridge | Bang Na Expressway, Thailand | 54 km (33.5 mi) |
Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao held the aggregate record before 2018. It measures 26.7 km in total, of which about 25.9 km is over the bay.
Danyang-Kunshan, for all its 164.8 km, crosses roughly 9 km of open water. It would not make the top five of this table.
What Makes a Very Long Bridge Worth Building
The economics are not what most people assume. These structures are rarely built to cross water; they are built to avoid buying land.
- Land is the biggest cost. Piers occupy a fraction of the ground an embankment needs, and farmland underneath stays in use.
- Soft ground favours piers. River deltas settle unevenly. Piles driven to firm strata hold an alignment that an embankment cannot.
- Speed needs separation. Trains at 300 km/h and above cannot share a corridor with road crossings, and elevating the track removes every one of them.
- Floodplains stay open. An embankment dams a floodplain. A viaduct lets the water through underneath it.
That logic explains the geography of the list. Six of the ten sit on two Chinese high-speed lines built through flat, wet, intensively farmed and densely populated country, which is exactly the terrain where going up costs less than going across. The same calculation shapes where the biggest cities in the world.
Height follows a different logic to length, and the engineering constraints barely overlap, which is why the countries that dominate the tallest buildings in the world are not the same ones that dominate this list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the longest bridge in the world?
The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, at 164.8 km (102.4 miles). It carries the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and opened in June 2011.
What is the longest bridge over water?
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, at 38.4 km (23.9 miles), measured as continuous length over water. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge leads on aggregate length over water at 48.3 km.
What is the longest bridge in the United States?
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, at 38.4 km (23.9 miles) across Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana. The Manchac Swamp Bridge, also in Louisiana, is second at about 36.7 km.
Why are most of the longest bridges in China?
They are high-speed rail viaducts rather than water crossings. China built more than 40,000 km of high-speed line between 2008 and 2020, much of it across soft, flat, heavily farmed delta country where elevating the track costs less than acquiring and embanking the land.
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