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This is the timeline of the three longest man-made spans in the world, all categories, that at least have the strength to carry some persons. It can be the span of any type of bridge, aerial tramway, power line, structural ceiling or dome etc.
In this timeline, only spans that were still standing in a particular year are considered for that year. This is perhaps more fair[ clarification needed ] than a timeline of the records of all time, because the old figures might be incorrect. At the points when the old spans fall, new spans with more certain figures are allowed to appear in the timeline. This is a top-three list of existing longest spans per day.
When several structures of the same length exist, the oldest is counted as the longest.
Some more rules for this timeline follow as: Only the length of the horizontal projection of the span, that is, the distance that can be measured on a map, counts. When the two supports have different heights above the sea level, the distance between them is longer than the horizontal projection of the distance, but this longer distance isn't counted. This is because it is more difficult to build a 100-metre (330 ft) horizontal span than a 100 m span that is tilted perhaps 45 degrees, as if it was the support for an escalator. The stress in the material is higher for the horizontal span, creating higher engineering difficulty, so only the length of the span perpendicular to the force of gravity is counted. For many structures in the timeline, it is not known if the stated length is the desired horizontal projected length, or the direct "laser beam" length.
Spanning structures in water are included only if they would still be standing if the water were removed.
The longest 5,376 m (17,638 ft) Ameralik Span and others have pylons that are not completely man-made. The lines are attached to small man-made pylons that in turn stand on the mountain, which forms the rest of the height of the pylons required for a span of that length. If the present man-made pylons were placed in a flat area, there would be no span, because the lines would touch the ground. It could be argued that this span should not appear in the timeline because the pylons are not completely man-made. However, as the focus of the engineering design task here is not to make something that is tall, but to make something that is long, it is concluded[ by whom? ] that this type of span is enough man-made to be in this timeline.
The spans of ancient structures are short. It would have been easy for somebody to tie a long rope between two poles and in this way create a very long ancient span. However, the ancient people had no reason to do this, and if they did, it is not documented and therefore not in this timeline. Only with the discovery of electricity and radio communication did people have a reason for tying a wire between two poles, thus creating the simplest form of long spans.
The span of the Pantheon, Rome, is not 43.3 m because there is a hole at the top of 9.1 m, so the span has been reduced with the size of the hole to 34.2 m. The span of any structure is measured in the following way: Place the largest possible imaginary horizontal circular disk under or inside the structure, barely touching any load-bearing pillars or walls, or parts used to stabilize the structure like wires. The disk must also not encircle any objects of this kind. At least one diameter of the disk have to be completely covered, that is rain-sheltered, by the structure. The span of the structure is diameter of the disk. Now, if the structure contains a hole at the center of the disk, as in the case of the Pantheon, the span is measured by using a second-largest possible imaginary horizontal circular disk that is smaller than the first disk and completely encircled by it. At least one diameter of the second disk has to be completely covered by the structure. The span of the structure is diameter of the second disk. Applying this method of measurement to Pantheon gives the previously stated result, 34.2 m. The method works for many types of structures.
Note: almost all information in this timeline has uncertainty.
In the timeline above, some completion years are given which are known[ by whom? ] to be incorrect. The following guesses were used to generate the graphic, but should not be taken as definitive.
| Incorrect year | Structure |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Sognefjord 2 Span |
| 1993 | Ameralik Span |
| 1975 | Sognefjord 1 Span |
| 1971 | Omega transmitter Bratland |
| 1930 | Dismantling of Carquinez Strait Powerline Crossing because then Benicia–Martinez Railroad Bridge was built |
| 1836 | Rebuilding of Port-Sainte-Marie Bridge |
| 1350 | Apurimac bridge |
| 675–825 | Maya Bridge at Yaxchilan |
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 Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd it is a steel truss railway bridge flanked by two more recent, cable-stayed, pedestrian bridges that share the railway bridge's foundation piers, and which are named the Golden Jubilee Bridges.
The Millau Viaduct is a multispan cable-stayed bridge completed in 2004 across the gorge valley of the Tarn near Millau in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie Region, in Southern France. The design team was led by engineer Michel Virlogeux and English architect Norman Foster. As of September 2020, it is the tallest bridge in the world, having a structural height of 336.4 metres (1,104 ft).
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 Pont de Normandie is a cable-stayed road bridge that spans the river Seine linking Le Havre to Honfleur in Normandy, northern France. Its total length is 2,143.21 metres (7,032 ft) – 856 metres (2,808 ft) between the two piers. It is also the last bridge to cross the Seine before it empties into the ocean. It is a motorway toll bridge, but there is also a footpath and a narrow cycle lane in each direction allowing pedestrians and cyclists to cross the bridge free of charge.
Bangabandhu Bridge, commonly called the Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge is a bridge opened in Bangladesh in June 1998. It connects Bhuapur on the Jamuna River's east bank to Sirajganj on its west bank. It was the 11th longest bridge in the world when constructed in 1998 and at present is the 6th longest bridge in South Asia. The Jamuna River, which it spans, is one of the three major rivers of Bangladesh, and is fifth largest in the world in discharge volume.
The Waldo–Hancock Bridge was the first long-span suspension bridge erected in Maine, as well as the first permanent bridge across the Penobscot River below Bangor. The name comes from connecting Waldo and Hancock counties. The bridge was built in 1931 and retired in 2006, when the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge was opened just a few yards away, and it was demolished in 2013.
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 Yangpu Bridge is a sister bridge to the Nanpu Bridge, both crossing the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. Yangpu is among the world's longest bridges, with a total length of 8354 meters. Its longest span of 602 m makes it one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world. It carries the Inner Ring Road from the Yangpu District in Puxi to the Pudong New Area. It was completed in September 1993 and opened in October. It is the last vehicular bridge over the Huangpu River before the river empties into the sea.
Rama IX Bridge is a bridge in Bangkok, Thailand over the Chao Phraya River. It connects the Yan Nawa District to Rat Burana District as a part of the Dao Khanong – Port Section of Chalerm Maha Nakhon Expressway.
This is the timeline of the 3 longest supported deck arch bridge spans in the world, where the road deck lies on top of the arch. The deck is supported by columns, truss, rubble or lies directly on the arch. These bridges are often found in narrow valleys.
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.
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 Térénez bridge is a cable-stayed bridge, located between Landévennec and Rosnoën, Finistère, France.
The Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge is a bridge complex over the Lower Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province in eastern China. The bridge connects Taizhou on the north bank, Yangzhong on an island in the river, and Yaoqiao Village of Zhenjiang Municipality on the south bank, and consists of a suspension bridge across the north branch stream and a pair of box-girder bridges across the south branch stream. Taizhou Bridge Complex opened in 2012.
In forestry, a tree crown measurement is one of the tree measurements taken at the crown of a tree, which consists of the mass of foliage and branches growing outward from the trunk of the tree. The average crown spread is the average horizontal width of the crown, taken from dripline to dripline as one moves around the crown. The dripline being the outer boundary to the area located directly under the outer circumference of the tree branches. When the tree canopy gets wet, any excess water is shed to the ground along this dripline. Some listings will also list the maximum crown spread which represents the greatest width from dripline to dripline across the crown. Other crown measurements that are commonly taken include limb length, crown volume, and foliage density. Canopy mapping surveys the position and size of all of the limbs down to a certain size in the crown of the tree and is commonly used when measuring the overall wood volume of a tree.
The Jiaxing-Shaoxing Sea Bridge, sometimes shortened to Jiashao Bridge, is the world's longest and widest multi-pylon cable-stayed bridge. From end to end, it stretches 10.14 km (6.3 mi) across the Qiantang River estuary, at Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. The main bridge is 2,680 m (8,790 ft) long and 55.6 m (182 ft) wide and carries an expressway with eight traffic lanes. Construction started December 2008, and the toll bridge opened for traffic on July 20, 2013.
