Top 10 Longest Bridges in the World (2025 Update) | From 30 km to 165 km

Some say that bridges are the most direct evidence of humanity's contest with nature. You may have seen bridges crossing rivers or spanning deep valleys, but can you imagine a bridge stretching for more than a hundred kilometers? Some of them soar like steel dragons, carrying high-speed trains through the air. Some cut straight across the sea, linking cities together with tunnels and artificial islands. Others stand firm in hurricanes and floods, becoming the only evacuation route for tens of thousands of people. Today, starting from number 10, let's explore the 10 longest bridges in the world. Number 10. Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, USA In 1964, a groundbreaking sea crossing opened in Virginia, USA. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel combines bridge spans, undersea tunnels, and man-made islands. Its total length is 28.3 kilometers, 17.5 miles, about 24 kilometers of bridge, with two undersea tunnels of 1.6 kilometers each at major shipping lanes, linked by four artificial islands. At first glance, it seems like a bridge, but in reality it is a complete sea-crossing transport system. The project took over three years to complete and cost about $200 million at the time, equivalent to several billion dollars today. This is one of the busiest shipping channels on America's east coast, with tens of thousands of vessels and naval ships passing every year. Building a full bridge would block shipping lanes, while a full tunnel was too costly and risky. Engineers faced a harsh choice. Allow uninterrupted maritime traffic and still build a highway across the bay. The final solution was a compromise. Vehicles travel mostly on bridge spans, then dive underwater, through tunnels at the shipping channels, allowing massive vessels to pass overhead. This solution also had to withstand hurricanes, waves, salt corrosion, ship collisions, and even earthquakes. The bridge spans rest on dense pilings and heavy piers. The artificial islands are protected by layered energy-dissipating revetments. The tunnel sections are reinforced with ventilation, drainage, and fire safety systems, with entrances located on the islands. Hybrid bridge-tunnel systems like this are rare worldwide. In the engineering world, it's often called a modern engineering wonder. Number 9. Temburong Bridge, Brunei. Between mangroves and tidal flats on the northern coast of Borneo, the Temburong Bridge reconnected Brunei's mainland with its separated Temburong district. The bridge stretches 30 km 18.6 miles, in total. It's not a single-span structure, but a long marine corridor composed of two ultra-long viaducts, 14.5 km and 11.8 km, a twin-tower cable-stayed navigation bridge, and multiple approach spans. The project took six years to build, cost about 1.3 billion, and opened in 2020. Construction faced a sensitive ecological setting, mangroves, mudflats, and rainforest. To minimize damage, engineers adopted a zero-land method, equipment operated from barges and temporary trestles, advancing section by section, essentially building the bridge on top of the bridge. Artificial reefs were also placed offshore to relocate fish and shrimp away from the construction zone. Before this bridge, traveling from Brunei's mainland to Temburong meant a two-hour boat trip across the bay, or a detour through Malaysia with four border crossings. Now the journey takes only 15 minutes by car. For Brunei, this is not only a road home, but also a backbone leading toward a diversified economy. Number 8. Hangzhou Bay Bridge, China Since opening in 2008, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge has shortened the Ningbo-Shanghai route by about 120 km, cutting travel time from nearly four hours down to two. Travel across the bay shifted from detouring around to directly crossing, compressing freight efficiency, port access, and commuting distances. The bridge follows an S-shaped alignment, not for aesthetics, but for stability, to resist crosswinds, avoid tidal channels, and anchor on firmer seabeds. Built over more than five years at a cost of about $2 billion, it created a 36 km, 22 mi, six-lane expressway over the sea. Challenges came from below. Strong tides, rough waves, frequent typhoons, and soft seabeds demanded a foundation that was both numerous and strong. The solution? Densely packed piles with long-span continuous girders, plus a cable-stayed mainspan, 448 men, for the navigation channel. High-performance concrete and corrosion-resistant steel were used throughout, and a structural health monitoring system was installed to track wind, waves, and stress in real time. Its impact goes far beyond crossing the bay. Shorter logistics chains and tighter port connections have reshaped the entire regional economy. Number 7. Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, USA In America's largest swamp, traditional roadbeds are impossible. The solution? Raise the entire highway above it. That's the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, part of Interstate 10 spanning 36.7 km, 22.8 mi, directly over wetlands formed by the Mississippi River's tributaries. Construction began in 1971 and took just two years, opening in 1973 at a cost of around $500 million, worth several billion today. The design alternates short trestle spans with longer spans across waterways like the Atchafalaya River. Nearly the entire deck rests on pilings, minimising disruption to the swamp below. Despite being a vital interstate link, the bridge has only two lanes in each direction and no shoulders. This makes safety management critical. Strict speed limits, patrols, visibility monitoring and rapid response measures are in place year-round. Beyond easing congestion between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, the bridge also serves as a vital evacuation route during hurricane season. Driving across offers sweeping views of wetlands, rivers and wildlife. For motorists, it's unforgettable scenery. For the US, it's a national-scale solution that turns an unpredictable swamp into a reliable corridor. Number 6. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, USA When you drive onto this bridge, for the next 15 minutes or so, you'll see no land at all, just water, piers and sky. That's the hallmark of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the lifeline connecting New Orleans with towns on the opposite shore. The bridge totals 38.4 km, saying 23.8 miles, and consists of two parallel spans. The first opened in 1956 after only 14 months of construction, costing $46 million. The second was built between 1967 and 1969 for about $30 million. Together, they cost under $100 million at the time, yet created the world's longest overwater highway bridge. Engineers drove more than 9,000 concrete piles into the soft lake bed, connecting thousands of short spans into a continuous line. Midway, special crossovers allow emergency U-turns and rescue access. Constant fog, storms and hurricanes make patrols and speed controls essential. After Hurricane Katrina, the structure remained intact, with only reinforcements added. Today, it still holds the title of world's longest continuous overwater bridge, and remains a daily lifeline for the New Orleans metro area. Number 5. Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway, Kuwait. To bring a new city onto the map, you need a road to reach it first. The Sheikh Jaber Causeway is exactly that, a road to the future. Crossing Kuwait Bay, it links Kuwait City with the planned Silk City. The main line is 36.4 km long, with an additional 12.4 km spur, and it officially opened in 2019. Its design is iconic, a 151-metre cable-stayed tower, inspired by traditional Arab towers, standing in dialogue with Kuwait's landmark towers. The combined cost of the main and spur lines exceeded $3 billion, and construction took nearly six years, employing 22,000 workers from over 20 countries. Conditions were far from easy. Shallow waters, mudflats, salt exposure and seasonal storms, all while protecting marine life. To offset impacts, artificial reefs were installed to create new habitats for fish and shrimp. With the bridge, the trip from Kuwait City to Silk City dropped from three hours to 30 minutes. It's more than infrastructure. It's a statement that Kuwait is looking beyond oil, building its future on connectivity. Number 4. Bangna Expressway Bridge, Thailand If one road symbolises Bangkok's traffic woes, it's the Bangna Expressway Bridge. This massive 54 km, 33.5 miles, elevated highway stretches like an aerial expressway, directly linking the city centre with eastern ports and Chonburi province. When it opened in 2000, it was the longest elevated highway in the world. The structure consists of 1,800 piers and 1,100 precast segments, each with a standardised 41-metre span, assembled using large gantry cranes. This modular approach allowed fast progress and minimal disruption to traffic below. The project cost nearly $1 billion. But the payoff was immediate. Ports, industrial zones and airports were efficiently connected. Goods no longer clogged city roads. Commuting times dropped. The expressway also took quality of life into account. Noise-reducing asphalt and sound barriers line residential areas, while the elevated design reduced land acquisition and large-scale demolition. Today, the 54 km aerial corridor is a backbone of Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor, a project that reshaped the region's logistics. Number 3. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, China One route, three cities. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is not just a bridge, it's a system of bridges, tunnels and islands. Total length 55 km, about 34.2 miles, of which the main bridge section is 22.9 km, plus a 6.7 km undersea tunnel and four artificial islands, together forming the longest sea-crossing project in the world to date. The project took nearly nine years and cost over $15 billion. It opened in 2018 and is often called the Mount Everest of bridges. The challenges spanned almost every difficulty in sea bridge engineering, deep water drilling in complex seabeds, typhoons and seismic zones requiring extreme resilience, shipping lanes needing high clearance without blocking routes, different driving rules, Hong Kong drives on the left, mainland China on the right, requiring an on-bridge traffic conversion system. Engineers adopted a hybrid bridge-tunnel scheme, diving under main shipping lanes, spanning others with cable-stayed and continuous girders. For travellers, it cut the Hong Kong-Zhuhai trip from over 4 hours to 45 minutes. For the Greater Bay Area, it's not just infrastructure, but a time corridor that reshaped the region. Without this bridge corridor, Taiwan's high-speed rail wouldn't achieve speed or safety. The Changhua-Kaohsiung Viaduct runs 157 km in 97.5 miles, the world's second longest bridge, built exclusively for the Taiwan high-speed rail. Construction began in 1999 and lasted eight years, opening in 2007 as part of Taiwan's most expensive infrastructure project, costing around $18 billion. The greatest challenge? Earthquakes. Taiwan lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire and trains run at 300 kmh. The bridge uses precast box girders joined by post-tensioning with seismic bearings and energy absorbers that allow the bridge to sway safely during tremors, giving trains enough time to break. It also addressed population density and environmental issues. River crossings were carefully managed and noise barriers installed in residential areas. With its completion, cities like Changhua, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung were linked, cutting travel times in half. This is the ultimate high-speed rail superstructure. The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge spans 164.8 km, 102.4 miles, making it the longest bridge in the world. Running along the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, construction began in 2006, completed in 2010 and opened in 2011. The entire Beijing-Shanghai HSR cost about $33 billion, with this bridge as one of its largest components. Over 10,000 workers participated, using 450,000 tons of steel and 2.3 million cubic meters of concrete. The rationale was simple. The Jiangnan region is a patchwork of rivers, rice fields and roads. Building on the ground would mean costly land acquisition, high settlement risks and agricultural disruption. The solution? Elevate the entire section. With thousands of piers and precast spans, the railway runs fully on viaducts, allowing trains to cruise at 300 km h with stability. Each beam weighed about 900 tons, lifted into place by giant gantry cranes. The design factored not only train loads, but also typhoons, floods and earthquakes. At 164.8 km, this bridge is the backbone of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR, enabling the world's busiest high-speed line to operate reliably and cutting the Beijing-Shanghai journey to under five hours. Bridge records keep being broken, but their impact goes far beyond the numbers. They reshape cities, compress time and alter entire economies. So, among these 10 super bridges, which one impressed you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments. And don't forget to like and subscribe. See you in the next video.