This is the timeline of the 3 longest supported deck arch bridgespans 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.
Because of the difficulty in telling an arch bridge apart from a bent beam bridge or certain cantilever bridges, all bridges that look like supported deck arch bridges are included in this timeline. The whole arch should be aesthetically visible uninterrupted by other structures such as the deck. Suspended deck arch bridges are excluded. The lower deck of the Eads Bridge is suspended a bit, but not below the underside of the arch, and the upper deck is completely above of the arch, so Eads is included. The lower deck of Dom Luís Bridge, Porto is suspended as far as is possible, making it also a suspended bridge, so it is excluded.
There are some truss bridges like Permanent Bridge where the deck passes through the arch. Since the deck does not lie on top of the load-bearing arch, but is suspended a bit measured from the top of the arch, those types are excluded. Eads Bridge was not excluded because the existence of such a lower deck does not change the appearance of the bridge much with respect of the arch.
In this timeline, only spans that were still standing a particular year are considered for that year. This is perhaps more fair than a timeline of the records of all time, because the old figures might be incorrect. At the points when the old spans falls, new spans with more certain figures are allowed to appear in the timeline. This is the historic top 3 lists of standing longest spans per day.
When several bridges of the same length exists, the oldest is counted as the longest.
Note: Some information in this timeline have uncertainty, especially before 1874.
Longest Spans 1796 - present
Longest Spans 142 BC - 1796
Known incorrect construction years
In this table the finishing years of construction of the structures shown in the timeline, that are known to be incorrect, are listed. If a guess was not made for the years of construction that are unknown, the graphical timeline could not be drawn. Some timber arches are probably missing from the timeline in the 19th century.
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 becauses it uses materials efficiently.
Rowland Mason Ordish was an English engineer. He is most noted for his design of the Winter Garden, Dublin (1865), for his detailed work on the single-span roof of London's St Pancras railway station, undertaken with William Henry Barlow (1868) and the Albert Bridge, a crossing of the River Thames in London, completed in 1873.
The Svinesund Bridge is a through arch bridge crossing Iddefjord at Svinesund, and joining Sweden and Norway. Svinesund is a sound separating the Swedish municipality of Strömstad from the Norwegian municipality of Halden, and thus it is the border between Norway and Sweden in this region. The bridge is the westernmost border crossing between the two countries and carries the European route E6 which is a major traffic route in the area, connecting Oslo and the rest of Norway with Gothenburg, Malmö, Copenhagen and the rest of Europe.
A tied-arch bridge is an arch bridge in which the outward horizontal forces of the arch(es) caused by tension at the arch ends to a foundation are countered by equal tension of its own gravity plus any element of the total deck structure such great arch(es) support. The arch(es) have strengthened chord(s) that run to a strong part of the deck structure or to independent tie-rods below the arch ends.
The Maria Pia Bridge is a railway bridge built in 1877, and attributed to Gustave Eiffel, situated over the Portuguese northern municipalities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.
The Bahia Honda Rail Bridge is a derelict railroad bridge in the lower Florida Keys connecting Bahia Honda Key with Spanish Harbor Key. It was originally part of the Overseas Railway, but the state of Florida purchased it from the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) after the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane and converted it for automobile use as part of the Overseas Highway in 1938. After a replacement Bahia Honda Bridge was opened in 1972, two spans of the old bridge were removed for the safety of boat traffic and to prevent pedestrian access to unsafe parts of the bridge.
The Pont de Sully is a bridge across the Seine in Paris, France.
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.
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.
The Kaikyō Yume Tower (海峡ゆめタワー) dominates the city of Shimonoseki and is the tallest tower in western Japan. Standing 153 metres tall, it was opened in July 1996. It forms a part of the Kaikyō Messe Shimonoseki building, which houses a conference centre and corporate offices.
A deck is the surface of a bridge. A structural element of its superstructure, it may be constructed of concrete, steel, open grating, or wood. Sometimes the deck is covered by a railroad bed and track, asphalt concrete, or other form of pavement for ease of vehicle crossing. A concrete deck may be an integral part of the bridge structure or it may be supported with I-beams or steel girders.
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.
Jiangjiehe Bridge is a concrete arch bridge in Weng'an County, Guizhou, China, spanning 330 metres over the Wu River. At 256 metres high the Jiangjiehe Bridge was the highest bridge in China from 1995 when it opened until 2001 when the 297-metre-high Liuguanghe Bridge was completed. As of 2019, it is among the forty highest bridges in the world. The bridge is located on the provincial S205 road between Weng'an and Honghuagang.
Sfalassà Viaduct is a 254-metre-high (833 ft) viaduct near Bagnara Calabra, Calabria, Italy. The bridge is located on Autostrada A2 Salerno-Reggio Calabria Motorway and has a main span of 376 metres. It is the highest and longest span frame bridge in the world and as of 2019 it is among the 50 highest bridges of any type. It is the second highest bridge in Italy after the Italia Viaduct. The Sfalassà Viaduct won the CECM European award three times.
The Fuling Shibangou Yangtze River Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River in Fuling District, Chongqing, China. Completed in 2009, it has a main span of 450 metres (1,480 ft) placing it among the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
The Shibanpo Yangtze River Bridge consists of a pair of prestressed concrete box girder bridges over the Yangtze River in Chongqing, China. The bridges carries 8 lanes of traffic on Jiangnan Avenue between the Nan'an District south of the Yangtze River and the Yuzhong District to the north.
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