One of the greatest achievements of
human beings is the construction of highest bridges in the world. This
indicates the greatest engineering work of highly competent experts in
the world and also conveys a message that nothing is impossible.
These bridges are wonderful and amazing structure that are made to
connect to place in very high condition. One of the problems with the
height is the gravity itself. Following are the 10 highest bridges of
the world.
10. The Verrazano, Narrows Bridge – New York
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is named
after the famous Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano. This bridge
has a height of 211.3 meters making it the 10th tallest bridge in the
world and has a central span of 4260 feet (1298 m). Built in 1964 until
1981 it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge
connects Brooklyn with Staten Island and has played an important role in
the development of the Big Apple area. The construction cost was about $320 million.
9. The Runyang Bridge – China
The Runyang Bridge is a
large bridge complex that crosses the Yangtze
River in Jiangsu Province, China, downstream of Nanjing. The bridge is
part of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway. This is a suspension
bridge with a main span of 1,490 meters (4,888 ft) and a height of
215 meters (705 ft). The width of the deck is 39.2 meters (129 ft),
accommodating 6 traffic lanes and a narrow walkway at each outside edge
for maintenance.
The total length of the bridge complex
is about 35.66 kilometers (22.16 mi). Construction of the bridge complex
began in October 2000 with a cost of 5.8 billion Yuan (about US$ 700
million) and opened to traffic on April 30, 2005.
8. The Pont de Normandie – Japan
The Pont de Normandie is cabled-stayed
bridge that spans the river Siene to Normandy. Its total length is
2,143.21 meters (7,032 ft) and a height of 215 meters making it the 8th
tallest bridge in the world.
The bridge opened on 20 January 1995 and
was considered to be the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world, and
had the record for the longest distance between piers for any
cable-stayed bridge. It was more than 250 meter longer between piers
than the previous record. Its record for length for a cable-stayed
bridge was lost in 2004 to the 2883 meters of the Rio Antirrio. At the
end of construction, the bridge had cost $465 million.
7. Tatara Bridge – Japan
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. Golden Gate Bridge – USA
The 227.4 meter high Golden Gate Bridge
is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San
Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. This bridge was considered to be
the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed during
the year 1937, and become one of the most internationally recognized
symbols of San Francisco and California. It has been declared as one of
the modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil
Engineers. Construction of this began on January 5, 1933 and completed
by April 1937 with the cost of more than $35 million.
5. The Great Belt Fixed Link – Denmark
The Great Belt Fixed Link
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 pertains 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. Stonecutters Bridge – Hong Kong
Stonecutters Bridge is a
high level suspension bridge which spans the Rambler Channel in Hong
Kong, connecting Nam Wan Kok Island and Stonecutters Island. The bridge
has a height of 298 meters making it the 4th tallest bridge in the
world. Construction of the bridge started on 27 April 2004 by Hitachi
Chong joint venture costing HK 2.76 billion and opened to traffic on 20
December 2009.
The bridge is part of Hong Kong’s Route 8
connecting many parts of Hong Kong. The interesting challenge and
extreme difficulty in constructing this bridge, was featured on
the Discovery Channel’s Extreme Engineering series on April 27, 2009.
3. Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge – Japan
The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge, also known as the Pearl Bridge,
has the longest central span of any suspension bridge at 1,991 meters
(6,532 ft) and a height of 298.3 meters. It is located in Japan and was
completed in 1998. The bridge links the city of Kobe on the
mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island by crossing the busy Akashi
Strait. It carries part of the Honshu Shkoku Highway.
2. Sutong Yantze River Bridge – China
The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge:
It is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Yangtze in
the China between Nantong and Changshu a city in Jiangsu province. With a
span of 1,088 meters (3,570 ft), it is the cable-stayed bridge with the
longest main span in the world as of 2010. Its two side spans are
300 meters (980 ft) each, and there are also four small cable spans.
Two towers of the bridge are 306 meters
(1,004 ft) high and thus the second tallest in the world. The total
bridge length is 8,206 meters (26,923 ft). Its construction began in
June 2003, and the bridge was linked up in June 2007. The bridge was
opened to traffic on 25 May 2008 and was officially opened on 30 June
2008. The cost of its construction was estimated about US$1.7 billion.
1. Millau Viaduct Bridge – France
The Millau Viaduct, is
a cable stayed road bridge that spans the valley of the River Tam
near Millau in southern France. It is the tallest bridge in the world
with an impressive height of 343.0 meters (1,125 ft) a little shorter
then the Empire State building and taller then Eiffel tower. This
massive structure has even been featured in the National Geographic show
“Megastructures.” The Construction cost was approximately 400 million
Euros and it was formally opened to traffic on 16 December 2004. The
bridge has received IABSE Outstanding Structure Award in 2006.
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