The world’s longest suspension bridges

Suspension bridges are among the most imposing and inspiring structures in the world.

The engineering and design required to make these bridges span vast lengths is breath-taking, particularly when many are also built in regions where seismic activity is commonplace.

Here, we list the world’s Top 20 longest suspension bridges, in ascending order of length, and look at how these wonders of human endeavour came to be built.

20: Golden Gate Bridge, USA – 1280 metres (4199ft, 0.8 miles)

Perhaps the most famous suspension bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge connects San Francisco and Marin County, California, in the US. As well as being the most recognisable suspension bridge to most people, the Golden Gate Bridge is the oldest of its type in this list. Built in 1937, it was built to replace a ferry service across the bay and work began in 1933. It took four years to complete and opened on 27 May 1937.

A total of 1.2 million rivets were used in the construction of the bridge and its trademark colour is known as International Orange. A team of 38 painters work full-time to maintain the protective paint and prevent corrosion of the metal. A replacement of the bridge’s deck was needed between 1982 and 1986 due to the salt in the regular thick fogs that surround the bridge rotting the concrete.

19: Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, USA – 1298 metres (4258ft, 0.8 miles)

The Narrows is a stretch of water that runs between Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York. To span this, the Verrazzano-Narrows suspension bridge was started in 1959 and completed five years later.

That completion date was for the upper level of this bridge, which has a second lower level to double its capacity for carrying traffic. Each day, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge today carries 202,000 vehicles, reaching a maximum height of 211 metres (693ft) above the harbour. When it was first opened, the bridge’s name was originally spelt with a single ‘z’, as in Verrazano. This was thought to be a spelling mistake and it was officially change to ‘Verrazzano’ in 2016.

18: Hardanger Bridge, Norway – 1310 metres (4297ft, 0.81 miles)

If not the longest suspension bridge in the world, the Hardanger Bridge in Norway is certainly one of the most dramatic. This is thanks to the spectacular scenery it is set in as it crosses the Hardanger Fjord.

As it reaches across the fjord at a height of up to 55m (180ft) above the water, the bridge connects the towns of Ullensvang and Ulvik, which were previously reliant on a ferry. The Hardanger Bridge is one of the more recent additions to this list as it was completed in 2013 after a four-year build period. The build cost is being slowly recouped by a toll to cross the bridge. There are two lanes for vehicles, with one carriageway in each direction, plus a separate lane for bicycles and pedestrians.

17: Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong – 1377 metres (4517ft, 0.86 miles)

When it was finished in 1997, the Tsing Ma Bridge in China was the second longest suspension bridge in the world. It’s a mark of how many such bridges have been erected since that this impressive structure is now 17^th in the list.

It was designed by an Anglo-Japanese consortium to link up the islands of Tsing Yi and Ma Wan, which give the bridge its name. Unlike many suspension bridges, the Tsing Ma Bridge carries both road and rail traffic. To do this, it has a double deck design and is 41 metres (135ft) wide, and the lower deck runs with two rail lines.

When it was finished, the Tsing Ma Bridge cost HK$7.2 billion (£730 million/US$913 million) and more than 100,000 spectators turned out for it opening. It now carries around 90,000 people in different forms of transport each day.

16: Jiangyin Bridge, China – 1385 metres (4544ft, 0.86 miles)

At the time of its completion, the Jiangyin Bridge in China was the furthest downstream crossing of the mighty Yangtze River. That has now been superseded by two more bridges, but this suspension bridge remains one of the most striking across this water.

The construction of the bridge was planned so that it was completed in 1997 to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. This deadline was met, but the bridge did not open to traffic until two years later. To build the bridge in just three years between 1994 and 1997, the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company used pre-fabricated box girders that were designed to be streamlined to help the bridge cope with adverse weather conditions.

15: Jin’an Bridge, China – 1386 metres (4547ft, 0.86 miles)

The Jin’an Bridge in China might make it into the top 10 of longest suspension bridges, but it does rank as one of the highest. It stands with a maximum height of 230 metres (750ft) from water level to the top of its columns. It was commissioned as an expressway to alleviate traffic using another bridge further downstream on the Jinsha River. Construction began in 2016 and finished in 2020, with the opening of the new bridge on New Year Eve 2020.

Before it was built, there had been a plan to make the Jin’an Bridge even taller but with a shorter span. However, this idea was scrapped due to the need to carry enough traffic and lighten the load on other crossings.

14: Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Turkey – 1408 metres (4619ft, 0.87 miles)

The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge is one of four in Istanbul that links Asia with Europe. This particular bridge is the one further to the north and carries road traffic across the Bosphorus strait. Work started on the striking Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge in 2013 and was completed in 2016 at a cost of 4.5 billion Turkish Lira (£100 million/US$125 million) - something of an engineering bargain in modern suspension bridge building.

However, that figure has since been revised as further money was needed to complete the financing of the build. It was designed by Swedish engineer Jean-Francois Klein and the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux.

13: Humber Bridge, UK – 1410 metres

The UK’s only entry in this list is the Humber Bridge that spans the Humber Estuary, with Barton-upon-Humber to the south and Hessle to the north. The bridge opened to traffic in 1981 and cost £98 million (US$123 milion) to complete, and it now carries 33,000 vehicles every day across its two carriageways. Vehicles have to pay a toll to use the bridge and it’s the most expensive in the UK.

Plans for a Humber Bridge go back as far as 1930 to replace the ferry at the same point. However, it took until 1966 for these plans to move towards serious design and construction, with work starting in 1972. When it opened in 1981, the Humber Bridge was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world, and it held this record for 17 years until the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan was built.

12: Nanjing Qixiashan Yangtze River Bridge, China – 1418 metres (4652ft, 0.88 miles)

Another of the bridges that spans the Yangtze River in China, the Nanjing Qixiashan Yangtze River Bridge was formerly called the Nanjing Fourth Yangtze Bridge. It changed its name in 2019, but the bridge itself had been operating since 2012. To cope with the volume of traffic expected to use the bridge, it was built with two carriageways, each with six lanes. Speed limits on the bridge vary between 100- and 125 km/h (62- and 78mph).

Before the bridge was built, a ferry was used to cross the vast Yangtze River at this point. The bridge was constructed using 16-metre long sections of pre-fabricated steel sections. Engineered gaps between these sections allow for movement to cope with earthquakes.

11: Second Dongting Bridge, China – 1480 metres (4855ft, 0.92 miles)

Like most suspension bridges, the Second Dongting Bridge in China has two sets of massive pylons that rise up to form the main anchorage points of its structure. This bridge needed each anchorage point to be especially stable due to the span of the river, the height of the roadway, and the potential for seismic activity.

As a result, each of the pylon’s bases weighs a mighty 630,000 tonnes and the pylons stretch up 200 metres into the sky above the river. This complex build was finished in 2018 and now allows traffic to cross the second-largest lake in China quickly and easily.

10: Runyang Bridge, China – 1490 metres (4888ft, 0.93 miles)

The Runyang Bridge is a suspension bridge across the Yangtze River and not to be confused with its sister bridge, the cable-stayed construction to the north. The suspension bridge is the longer of the two and was the third longest of its type when it opened to traffic in 2005. It has been surpassed on that front by a number of others, but it remains an incredible feat of engineering.

Using an orthotropic construction method, the Runyang Bridge is able to be both light and strong, which helps it deal with its length and height. Its main towers sit 215 metres above water level and the bridge’s road is 50 metres from the water. The bridge has two carriageways and each comes with six lanes so it can cope with more than 100,000 vehicle crossings per day.

9: Yi Sun-sin Bridge, South Korea – 1545 metres (5068ft, 0.96 miles)

The Yi Sun-sin Bridge is part of a wider complex of bridges that connect the industrial area in Yeosu, South Korea. Named after the famous 16^th century Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin who built the world’s first iron-clad battleship, the bridge is a little more advanced in this construction. The two main pylons are thinner than many similarly-sized bridges and reach some 270 metres into the sky above the South Sea.

Connecting Gwangyang and the island of Myodo-dong, the Yi Sun-sin Bridge won the Outstanding Structure Award in 2013, the year after it opened 2012. Construction took five years in total.

8: Osman Gazi Bridge, Turkey – 1550 metres (5085ft, 0.96 miles)

Further east than the Bosphorus crossings, the Osman Gazi Bridge spans the Gulf of Izmit at its narrowest point to carry the O-5 motorway between Gebze and Yalova Province. Construction of the Osman Gazi Bridge started in 2013 and completed in 2016, and its three-year build is one of the quickest in recent times. It opened to traffic just one month after completion and the bridge cost 41 billion Turkish Lira (£940 million/US$1.2 billion).

A toll has to be paid for vehicles to use the Osman Gazi Bridge, which carries up to 6000 vehicles per day. While the number of vehicles carried is relatively low, the bridge does away with a 100-mile trip around the bay that would otherwise be needed to achieve the same journey.

7: Great Belt Bridge, Denmark – 1624 metres (5328ft, 1.0 miles)

Widely considered one of the best looking suspension bridges in the world, the dramatic Great Belt Bridge in Denmark links the islands of Zealand and Funen. It takes it name from the Great Belt Straits that this bridge spans.

Carrying both road and rail traffic, the Great Belt Bridge was started in 1991 and took until 1998 to be finished. A bridge had been proposed on this site as early as 1973 to speed up travel compared to the existing ferry, but it took until 1986 for politicians to agree to the bridge project.

There are two other bridges as part of this project and both have a longer overall length than the Great Belt Bridge, but neither has such a long suspension bridge span.

6: Xihoumen Bridge, China – 1650 metres (5414ft, 1.03 miles)

The Zhoushan Archipelago is the largest offshore group of islands in China, so it’s inevitable it will have some impressive bridges to deal with its geography. The Xihoumen Bridge exemplifies this with its 1650-metre span and support pylons that rise up to 211 metres tall. The need for this height is so ships can pass beneath the Xihoumen Bridge, which is part of a complex of five bridges linking the islands and form the Yongzhou Expressway.

The Xihoumen Bridge links the islands of Jintang and Cezi. This bridge was finished in 2007 but didn’t open to traffic until 2009 because a ship collided with the bridge shortly after it was completed. Repairs and safety checks delayed the opening.

5: Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, China – 1666 metres (5466ft, 1.04 miles)

The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge is part of a much longer link system to connect the cities of Shenzhen to the east and Zhongshan in the west. There are tunnels and roads as part of the link, while the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge became part of the system in 2024.

It took seven years to build the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge and it cost around £3.8 billion ($4.75 billion) to complete, making it one of the most expensive infrastructure projects ever in China. Spanning the Pearl River Estuary, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge was first mooted in 2008 and finally got the green light in 2011. It now carries 100,000 vehicles per day, but there were traffic jams when it first opened as so many drivers wanted to experience crossing the bridge.

4: Nansha Bridge, China – 1688 metres (5538ft, 1.05 miles)

The Nansha Bridge is another in China that has to cross the Pearl River. It takes its name from the Nansha District in Guangzhou, which it connects with Shatian Town. Originally, the Nansha Bridge was to be named the Humen Second Bridge, but that changed during the construction period between 2013 and 2019. It opened to traffic the same year as its completion and now carries more than 50,000 vehicle each day.

The bridge consists of two carriageways, each with four lanes, and the Nansha Bridge cost a total of CN¥ 12 billion (£1.3 billion/US$1.63 billion).

3: Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge, China – 1700 metres (5577ft, 1.06 miles)

The Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge might have to settle for the third step on the podium of the world’s longest suspension bridges, but it does hold the title of the longest bridge in China. It’s also the world's longest double decker bridge, carrying vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians on the two levels.

Linking Hanyang and Wuchang in the Hubei province, the Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge has six lanes for traffic on its upper deck and a further four lanes on the lower deck. As a result, it’s also one of the busiest suspension bridges in the world and often sees more than 100,000 vehicles crossing it each day.

Such a complex design meant it took four years to complete, starting in 2015 and finishing in 2019. It opened to traffic only a month after it was finished and the total costs was CN¥ 8.5 billion (£920 million).

2: Akashi Kaiko Bridge, Japan – 1991 metres (6532ft, 1.24 miles)

While China lays claim to more entries in the top 20 of the world’s longest suspension bridges, its near neighbour Japan laid claim to the overall title in 1998. It only relinquished this when the Çanakkale Bridge in Turkey opened in 2022. The Akashi Kaiko Bridge was started in 1988 and took 10 years to complete, finishing in 1996 and going into service in 1998. The long build time was partly due to a mid-build redesign to improve the pylon towers’ strength following an earthquake in 1995 that moved the towers slightly.

It spans the Akashi Strait and runs between Kobe on Honshu Island and Iwaya on Awaji Island, and it’s part of a larger series of bridges connecting various islands. The idea for the Akashi Kaiko Bridge goes back as far as 1957 and, when the go-ahead was given, it was initially proposed the bridge would carry both road and rail traffic. However, that changed and it now only carries vehicular traffic using two carriageways, each with three lanes.