What's the longest bridge in the world? There are a number of criteria that make this infrastructure exceptional and record-breaking. Among those worth mentioning is the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, a 164 km long viaduct in China and considered the longest in the world. The longest suspension bridge in the world is located in Japan, on the Akashi Strait, and has a span of 1,991 metres. In China there is the longest sea crossing in the world, a 55 kilometre infrastructure linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao.
Bridges are constructions that make it possible to overcome natural obstacles such as rivers, sea arms, earth hollows, etc. But in addition to being functional structures, they are endowed with an enormous symbolic charge: they connect communities, cultures and economies. Bridges have been and always will be among the strongest signs left by man on the territory, representing at the same time a technological and structural challenge, comparable to that of skyscrapers.
“Building a bridge is a war against the forces of nature” diceva Joseph Strauss, designer of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. “Every span is something that can’t be done until the men in steel helmets have driven in their last rivet”, proving that in bridge building, the challenge is intrinsic.
The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, with its 164,800 metres in length, is a viaduct that provides a high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, crossing an area dotted with canals, rivers, lakes and rice fields. Its construction began in 2006 and, employing over 10,000 people, was completed in 2010 at a total cost of $8.5 billion. What the Guinness World Record considers the longest bridge in the world is located between Shanghai and Nanjing, in Jiangsu Province, and for 9 km it passes over the waters of Lake Yangcheng. This important infrastructure allows you to reach Shanghai from the Chinese capital, and vice versa, in just 4 hours and 48 minutes.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the longest sea crossing in the world. The infrastructure work completed in 2018 has enormous strategic value: it links two special administrative regions - Hong Kong and Macao - to other cities in the People's Republic of China, helping to establish the "Greater Bay Area", a megalopolis of 68 million people also known as the Pearl River Delta. 55 km long, a 7 km long underwater tunnel, a cost of 17.5 billion dollars, 400,000 tons of steel (four and a half times the amount used for the Golden Gate in San Francisco), a transit of 9,200 vehicles per day: these are just some of the impressive figures that tell the record-breaking bridge.
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is one of the wonders of Japanese engineering: the longest suspension bridge in the world. In addition to being a necessary structure for the city of Kobe, what crosses the Akashi Strait is an architectural masterpiece, which can be admired from the inside thanks to a small museum that also tells its troubled history. Before its inauguration, the structure had to face a violent earthquake, which in 1995 had as its epicenter the Strait of Akashi. After this challenge, the bridge was inaugurated in 1998, after ten years of construction and over 20 years of study and design. The infrastructure is marked by two 200-meter-high towers, which support a span of 2 km - the longest in the world. For stability, the foundations must sink 80 metres into the ground.