Longest bridges around the world

 Bromford Viaduct Photo: Phil Starling/Highways Agency
The UK boasts an array of spectacular long bridges including the QE II Bridge, the Tay Rail Bridge and the crossings over the river Severn. But technically the longest bridge is something of an unsung hero – consisting of a 5.6km-long stretch (3.4 miles) of the M6 near Birmingham. Taking eight years to construct, it carries road traffic between junction 5 and 6, from Castle Bromwich to Gravelly Hill. It featured the original Spaghetti Junction.

Bang Na Expressway Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
The longest existing road bridge in the world exceeds the distance of crossing the Channel by 12 miles. Officially known as the Burapha Withi Expressway, it is a 55km (34 miles) six-lane elevated highway in Thailand.

King Fahd Causeway Photo: shmooj/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Opened in 1986, the King Fahd Causeway Bridge links Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. It is 25km (16 miles) long and, due to the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia that existed for many years, it was the only bridge in the world where women could drive on to it from Bahrain, but would be breaking the law if they exited into Saudi Arabia at the other end.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
This double-lane bridge, near New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana, was formerly the Guinness world record holder for the longest bridge over water. Originally completed in 1956, the toll road was opened in May 1969 and is 38.3km (23.8 miles) long.

Vasco da Gama Bridge Photo: João Ribeiro / EyeEm/Getty Images
The longest bridge in Europe, with a total length of 12.3km (7.6 miles), it spans the Tagus river in Lisbon. Named after the Portuguese explorer, it eclipses the Øresund Bridge which links Denmark and Sweden.

Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge Photo: Imaginechina/REX/Shutterstock
The Boris Johnson vision of a 22 -mile crossing over the Channel comes in at only a fifth of the length of the world’s longest bridge. Opened in 2011, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge is 164.8km (102.4 miles) long, and carries bullet trains on the Beijing to Shanghai high-speed railway in China.

Tianjin Grand Bridge Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
The second longest bridge of any kind is also in China, and also part of the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. It has a total length of about 113.7km (70.6 miles) and runs between Langfang and Qingxian.

Metro line 1, Lima Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
Despite a troubled construction history and much-delayed opening, Metro line 1 in Lima, Peru, now boasts of being one of the longest metro lines in the Americas. It is built on 34.6km (21.5 miles) of elevated viaduct, with 26 stations. It’s significantly longer than Boris Johnson’s above ground contribution to London’s transport infrastructure. Known as the ‘dangleway’, as London mayor Johnson spent £24m of taxpayers’ money on a cable car across the Thames, which three years after opening did not have a single regular commuter using it.

Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
The bridge and tunnel system linking the commercial centres of Hong Kong and Macau with Zhuhai may be more like what Boris Johnson had in mind. It crosses the Zhujiang river estuary, and the combined length of it all is 55km (34 miles). However, the project’s public opening to traffic is running behind schedule – something previous Boris Johnson bridge projects would be familiar with.

Jiaozhou Bay Bridge Photo: Alamy Stock Photo
At 42.4km (26.3 miles) long, the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao in China’s coastal Shandong province connects the eastern city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao, in Jiaozhou Bay.

Queensferry Crossing, the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge Photo: georgeclerk/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Perhaps the most spectacular bridge view in the UK is looking across the three bridges over the Firth of Forth. The new Queensferry Crossing in the foreground opened last year, complementing the Forth Road Bridge which opened in 1964, alongside the original railway-carrying Forth Bridge which opened in 1890.

Source: A bridge too far? Longest bridges around the world - in pictures