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 cable-stayed bridge has one or more towers, from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern or a series of parallel lines. This is in contrast to the modern suspension bridge, where the cables supporting the deck are suspended vertically from the main cable, anchored at both ends of the bridge and running between the towers. The cable-stayed bridge is optimal for spans longer than cantilever bridges and shorter than suspension bridges. This is the range within which cantilever bridges would rapidly grow heavier, and suspension bridge cabling would be more costly.
The Rio–Antirrio Bridge, officially the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge, is one of the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges and longest of the fully suspended type. It crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rio on the Peloponnese peninsula to Antirrio on mainland Greece by road. It opened one day before the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, on 12 August 2004, and was used to transport the Olympic flame.
The Runyang Yangtze River Bridge is a large bridge complex that crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China, downstream of Nanjing. The complex consists of two major bridges that link Zhenjiang on the south bank of the river and Yangzhou on the north. The bridge is part of the Yangzhou–Liyang Expressway. Construction of the bridge complex began in October 2000 and was completed ahead of schedule. The bridge cost 5.8 billion Yuan. The complex opened to traffic on April 30, 2005. The total length of the bridge complex is about 35.66 kilometres (22.16 mi). In between the two bridges is the island of Shiyezhou.
A suspension bridge supports its structural load with cables, ropes, or chains anchored at each end. Cables on the earliest suspension bridges were anchored in the ground; some modern suspension bridges anchor the cables to the ends of the bridge itself. Earliest suspension bridges had no towers or piers but the majority of larger modern suspension bridges have them. All of the 14 longest bridges in the world are suspension bridges.
The Nordhordland Bridge is a combined cable-stayed and pontoon bridge which crosses Salhusfjorden between Klauvaneset and the island of Flatøy in Vestland county, Norway. It is 1,614 meters (5,295 ft) long, of which the pontoon section is 1,246 meters (4,088 ft) long. The cable-stayed section consists of a single 99-meter (325 ft) tall H-pylon which has a length of 368 meters (1,207 ft) and a main span of 172 meters (564 ft). This allows for a clearance of 32 meters (105 ft).
The Skarnsund Bridge is a 1,010-metre (3,310 ft) long concrete cable-stayed bridge that crosses the Skarnsundet strait, in the municipality of Inderøy in Trøndelag county, Norway. When finished in 1991, it replaced the Vangshylla–Kjerringvik Ferry and it gives the communities in the municipalities of Mosvik and Leksvik easier access to the central areas of Innherred. The bridge is the only road crossing of the Trondheimsfjord, and is located along Norwegian County Road 755.
The Farø Bridges are two road bridges that connect the islands of Falster and Zealand in Denmark by way of the small island of Farø which is approximately mid-way across the Storstrømmen sound. A smaller bridge from Farø provides access to Bogø and thence to the island of Møn.
The Strait of Gibraltar crossing is a hypothetical bridge or tunnel spanning the Strait of Gibraltar that would connect Europe and Africa. The governments of Spain and Morocco appointed a joint committee to investigate the feasibility of linking the two continents in 1979, which resulted in the much broader Euromed Transport project.
An extradosed bridge employs a structure that combines the main elements of both a prestressed box girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. The name comes from the word extrados, the exterior or upper curve of an arch, and refers to how the "stay cables" on an extradosed bridge are not considered as such in the design, but are instead treated as external prestressing tendons deviating upward from the deck. In this concept, they remain part of the main bridge superstructure.
The Bandra-Worli Sea Link is a 5.6 km long, 8-lane wide bridge that links Bandra in the Western Suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in Central Mumbai. It is the longest sea bridge, as well as the 4th longest bridge in India after Bhupen Hazarika Setu, Dibang River Bridge and Mahatma Gandhi Setu. It is a cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete-steel viaducts on either side. It was planned as a part of the proposed Western Freeway that would link the Western Suburbs to Nariman Point in Mumbai's main business district, but is now planned to become part of the Coastal Road to Kandivali.
The Russky Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. The bridge connects the Russky Island and the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula sections of the city across the Eastern Bosphorus strait, and with a central span of 1,104 metres it is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The Russky Bridge was originally built to serve the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference hosted at the Far Eastern Federal University campus on Russky Island. It was completed in July 2012 and opened by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and on September 3, 2012, the bridge was officially given its name.
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 Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge is a suspension bridge over the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei, China. With a main span of 1,280 metres (4,200 ft), at its opening it was tied with the Golden Gate Bridge as the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world. The bridge carries the G70 Fuzhou–Yinchuan Expressway and G4201 Wuhan Ring Expressway over the Yangtze River and provides easy access to both sides of the river as part of a larger plan to promote development in the eastern portion of the city. Construction on the bridge began on November 4, 2003, and it opened to traffic on December 26, 2007.
Vidyasagar Setu, also known as the Second Hooghly Bridge, is a toll bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India, linking the cities of Kolkata and Howrah.
The Puente de Occidente, so named because it is located in western Antioquia, Colombia, is a suspension bridge that connects the municipalities of Olaya and Santa Fe de Antioquia, east and west of the Cauca River, respectively. At the time it was considered to be the third largest suspension bridge worldwide.
The Dongshuimen Bridge and the Qiansimen Bridge, known collectively as the Twin River Bridges, are a pair of bridges that form a road and rail connection in Chongqing, China. Consisting of two cable-stayed bridges and a tunnel across the Yuzhong peninsula where the heart of Chongqing's commercial & financial district Jiefangbei CBD is located, the connection opened in 2014.
A floating suspension bridge is a type of suspension bridge supported by towers built on floating pontoons which are tethered to the seabed. The design is intended to overcome the difficulties of building suspension towers in locations where the water is particularly deep. As of 2021 no such bridges have been built, but a project is underway to build one in Norway, at Bjørnafjord, designed by engineer Ian Firth.
A cable-stayed suspension bridge or CSS bridge merges the designs of cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges. The suspension bridge's architecture is better at handling the load in the middle of the bridge, while the cable stayed bridge is better suited to handle the load closest to the tower. Combining these two architectural engineering ideas into a hybrid has been done in Istanbul with the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge. A bridge over the Krishna River in India has been approved in October 2022 that will be a CSS bridge design.
