This list of continuous bridge spans ranks the world's continuous truss bridges in two listings: The first is ranked by the length of main span (the longest length of unsupported roadway) and the second by the total length of continuous truss spans.
Both lists include bridges that act primarily as a continuous truss. These bridges may appear to be—or may incorporate elements of—a different design. For example, the now destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge incorporated an arch shape into the design, but was continuous across multiple spans. The Key Bridge acted first as a continuous truss bridge and secondarily as an arch bridge. This list does not include cantilever bridges.
Only bridges that are currently in use are included in the rankings. Bridges currently being planned, designed, or constructed and bridges that have been destroyed or demolished are noted separately.
The length of main span is the most common method of comparing the size of bridges. The length of the main span will often correlate with the depth of the truss (height the truss from bottom to top) and the engineering complexity involved in designing and constructing the bridge.
For bridges that have the same span length, the older bridge is listed first.
It is also possible to rank continuous truss bridges by the sum of the continuous spans.
Note that if the bridge has an expansion joint (a discontinuity), the sections of the bridge would be considered separate (by the definition of a continuous bridge) for the purposes of this ranking. The Yoshima Bridge is an example of this. It consists of two continuous-truss sections that together have five total spans. The first section (or unit) is 2-span continuous, 125 m + 137 m; the second section is a 3-span unit, 165 m + 245 m + 165 m. [2]
Rank | Name | Location | Individual span lengths in meters or feet | Total length in meters (feet) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pakokku Bridge | Pakokku, Myanmar | 390 ft | 6,278 m (20,597 ft) | |
Thanlwin Bridge (Mawlamyine) | Mawlamyine, Myanmar | 367 ft | 6,596 m (21,640 ft) | ||
Irrawaddy Bridge (Nyaungdon) | Nyaungdon, Myanmar | 390 ft | |||
2 | Dashengguan Bridge | Nanjing, China | 108 + 192 + 336 + 336 + 192 + 108 meters [3] | 1,272 metres (4,173 ft) | |
2 | Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge | Jiujiang, China | 3*162 + 180 + 216 + 180 + 2*126 m [4] | 1,314 m (4,311 ft) | |
3 | Francis Scott Key Bridge (destroyed in 2024) | Baltimore, Maryland, USA | 219.6 + 366 + 219.6 meters [5] | 2,640 feet (800 m) | |
4 | Ikitsuki Bridge | Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan | 200 + 400 + 200 m [5] | 800.0 m (2,624.7 ft) | |
5 | Astoria-Megler Bridge | Astoria, Oregon, USA | 616 + 1,232 + 616 ft [5] | 751 m (2,464 ft) | |
Name | Location | Main span in meters (feet) | Longest from | Longest to | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ikitsuki Bridge | Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan | 400 m (1,300 ft) | 1991 | present | |
Astoria-Megler Bridge | Astoria, Oregon, USA | 375.6 m (1,232 ft) | 1966 | 1991 | |
Duisburg-Rheinhausen Bridge | Duisburg, Germany | 254.5 meters (835 ft) | 1945 | 1966 | |
Sciotoville Bridge | Sciotodale, Ohio, USA | 236 meters (774 ft) | 1916 | 1945 |
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical suspenders, have a long history in many mountainous parts of the world.
A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges typically have a lifespan of only 20 years because of the effects of rain and sun, but a covered bridge can last over 100 years. In the United States, only about 1 in 10 survived the 20th century. The relatively small number of surviving bridges is due to deliberate replacement, neglect, and the high cost of restoration.
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct may be made from a series of arches, although other more economical structures are typically used today.
Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hill, in New South Wales, Australia. Despite its name, the bridge is not in Gladesville.
A truss is an assembly of members such as beams, connected by nodes, that creates a rigid structure.
A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic use trusses built from structural steel, or box girders built from prestressed concrete.
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. There are several types of truss bridges, including some with simple designs that were among the first bridges designed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A truss bridge is economical to construct primarily because it uses materials efficiently.
The Isaiah David Hart Bridge is a truss bridge that spans the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. It carries U.S. Route 1 Alternate and State Road 228 (SR 228). It is named after Isaiah Hart, the founder of Jacksonville and is often referred to as the Hart Bridge. It was designed by Sverdrup & Parcel. The Hart Bridge is one of the longest truss bridges in the world, and has the world's third longest main span of any truss bridge.
The Great Seto Bridge or Seto Ohashi Bridge is a series of double deck bridges connecting Okayama and Kagawa prefectures in Japan across a series of five small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Built over the period 1978–88, it is one of the three routes of the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project connecting Honshū and Shikoku islands and the only one to carry rail traffic. The total length is 13.1 kilometers (8.1 mi), and the longest span, the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge, is 1,100 m (3,600 ft).
Lavr Dmitrievich Proskouriakov was a Russian bridge engineer. He was one of the foremost authorities on bridge engineering and structural mechanics in the Russian Empire and the early Soviet Union.
A tied-arch bridge is an arch bridge in which the outward-directed horizontal forces of the arch(es) are borne as tension by a chord tying the arch ends rather than by the ground or the bridge foundations. This strengthened chord may be the deck structure itself or consist of separate, independent tie-rods.
The Cape Girardeau Bridge was a continuous through truss bridge connecting Missouri's Route 34 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois. It was replaced in 2003 with the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.
A continuous truss bridge is a truss bridge that extends without hinges or joints across three or more supports. A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a series of simple trusses because a continuous truss distributes live loads across all the spans; in a series of simple trusses, each truss must be capable of supporting the entire load.
The Hampden County Memorial Bridge is a reinforced-concrete arch bridge that spans the Connecticut River between Springfield, Massachusetts and West Springfield, Massachusetts, constructed in 1922. The bridge is owned by Massachusetts Highway Department and is located on Massachusetts Route 147. It spans 209 feet (64 m) and rises 29.71 feet (9.06 m) above the river.
The Bellows Falls Arch Bridge was a three-hinged steel through arch bridge over the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls, Vermont and North Walpole, New Hampshire. It was structurally significant as the longest arch bridge in the United States when it was completed in 1905.
The bridges and tunnels across the Yangtze River carry rail and road traffic across China's longest and largest river and form a vital part of the country's transportation infrastructure. The river bisects China proper from west to east, and every major north–south bound highway and railway must cross the Yangtze. Large urban centers along the river such as Chongqing, Wuhan, and Nanjing also have urban mass transit rail lines crossing the Yangtze.
The Chaotianmen Bridge, is a road-rail bridge over the Yangtze River in the city of Chongqing, China. The bridge, which opened on 29 April 2009, is the world's longest through arch bridge.
The Winooski River Bridge, also known locally as the Checkered House Bridge, is a historic Pennsylvania through truss bridge, carrying U.S. Route 2 (US 2) across the Winooski River in Richmond, Vermont. Built in 1929, it is one of only five Pennsylvania trusses in the state, and was the longest bridge built in the state's bridge-building program that followed massive flooding in 1927. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The Macquarie River railway bridge is a heritage-listed disused railway bridge across the Macquarie River that was previously located on the Main Western line in Bathurst in the Bathurst Region local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built in 1876. It is also known as Bathurst Rail Bridge over Macquarie River and Bathurst – Kelso Railway Bridge. The property is owned by Transport Asset Holding Entity, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The bridge was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999 and was added to the Register of the National Estate on 18 April 1989.
Table 13.4 The leading continuous truss bridges