5 Of The World’s Longest Bridges You Can Drive Across – Jalopnik

Trigger warning: If you undergo from gephyrophobia — a concern of bridges — it’s possible you’ll need to cease studying proper now. We’re going to be speaking about driving on a number of the longest bridges on the earth, and, as consultants level out, the phobia is critical. The concern might be so intense that some locations with giant bridges have escort packages the place you may prepare to have police personnel drive you over their bridges. The Delaware River and Bay Authority Police Department says that about 450 drivers reap the benefits of the service annually to navigate the Delaware Memorial Bridge. On the opposite hand, watching massive vans attempt to go underneath low bridges is type of satisfying, and so they can create a number of the finest bridge wreck movies of all time.

As for the bridges themselves, absolutely the longest ones on the earth are designed for trains, not automobiles, so you will not see them right here. But don’t fret, we cannot go away you hanging — there are 5 prepare bridges which might be longer than the longest street bridge, with the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China main the best way at greater than 102 miles. It’s greater than thrice longer than the longest drivable bridge on the earth.

Now, among the many drivable bridges, let’s begin within the United States with the Manchac Swamp Bridge in Louisiana. It opened in 1979 to assist drivers recover from a swampy space on the northeastern finish of Lake Maurepas the place it flows into the Pass Manchac — which, in flip, results in Lake Pontchartrain, residence to a fair longer bridge we’ll focus on later. And to be clear, the Manchac isn’t any peculiar swamp. Legend has it that the Cajun werewolf, the Rougarou, prowls the realm. 

The Manchac Swamp Bridge is definitely two parallel roadways masking some 22.8 miles of Louisiana’s Interstate 55 and U.S. Route 1. Due to the marshy nature of the bottom, it is supported by sturdy pillars that begin 250 ft under the floor. An costly proposition, this helped push prices as much as the equal of almost $770 million right this moment. There was a very good cause for going overboard, nonetheless. It seems that the present bridge is the second span over the swamp — the primary collapsed in 1976 after one in every of its helps was hit by a barge. 

The world’s longest steady bridge over water, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, can take you to the tip of the world. That mentioned, it was designed to take you from New Orleans to Mandeville by going proper throughout the lake for a distance of 23.9 miles. The bridge began life in 1956, however a second span needed to be added within the Nineteen Sixties to assist ease visitors congestion. The new setup opened in 1969 with three elevated sections to assist ships go beneath. While many of the causeway is about 10 ft above the water, there are three 25-foot sections, one part with a 50-foot clearance, and even a drawbridge (with a 45-foot clearance when closed).

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the unique causeway marked an revolutionary new strategy to bridge constructing. Per the ASCE, it was the primary time a bridge was constructed following “assembly-line, mass-production methods,” and the Causeway additional marked a significant advance for the usage of pre-stressed concrete. Without going too far into the small print, the ASCE experiences that it was referred to as “cenviro” and “used centrifugal force to generate a drier, more compact concrete.”

From the lakes and swamps of the Southeastern United States, we go to one of the vital densely populated cities in Southeast Asia for our subsequent cease. The Metro Manila Skyway gives some 24.4 miles of elevated street by the Philippines National Capital Area — together with town of Manila itself, which is residence to roughly 189,750 folks per sq. mile. Unsurprisingly, Manila is well-known for having a number of the world’s worst visitors as nicely — and the bridges have to face as much as barge slams from hurricane storm surges.

The Skyway was developed to assist issues, rolling out in three phases that lasted from 1995 to 2021. To put the dimensions of the undertaking into context, the foundations for the third part alone required 255,160 cubic meters (over 9 million cubic ft) of cement strengthened by 44.3 million kilograms (97.7 million kilos) of metal. The entire factor was profitable sufficient {that a} fourth part is being deliberate. Expected to price $1 billion when full, Skyway 4 will join Bicutan within the Taguig district to Batasan in Quezon City with a six-lane freeway and 28 exit/entry ramps. However, whereas it would hook up with the unique Skyway and is named its shorter sibling, it would function some non-elevated elements.

There are no laborious and quick guidelines for figuring out the longest street bridges on the earth, so we’ll slot the Dhaka Elevated Expressway, positioned within the capital metropolis of Bangladesh, at quantity two on the record with a complete size of roughly 29 miles. On the opposite hand, that technically contains not solely the principle route, but in addition a brief hyperlink street and greater than 30 on/off ramps accounting for about 15 miles on their very own. Also, it is not fairly executed but. Work started in 2011 however stopped in 2024 after a dispute among the many contractors. The ultimate levels of development started in August 2025 underneath the course of the China Shandong International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group Limited (CSI) and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

The work cannot be completed too quickly, both, since congestion is so unhealthy. Yes, research present different areas as being the worst visitors cities on the earth, however Dhaka isn’t any slouch. It has the seventh-worst visitors on the earth and was rated quantity three for time spent commuting, in response to crowd-based Numbeo. Furthermore, Time journal has referred to as it the slowest metropolis on the earth.

For a very long time the longest bridge of any sort on the earth, the Bang Na Expressway stays the world’s longest elevated freeway with a span of 33.6 miles that took 1.8 million cubic meters (roughly 63.5 million cubic ft) of concrete, 3.5 years of labor, and $1 billion to finish. Of course, Thailand appears to have a factor for expensive automotive initiatives — the nation’s $1.2 billion F1 race would be the costliest ever.

The expressway is one more undertaking geared toward decreasing visitors in a crowded city space. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, claims almost 11.4 million residents who face their very own share of notoriously unhealthy visitors. Indeed, the elevated expressway was constructed proper over one other grade-level street for its entire distance, basically doubling the automobiles that may be carried. 

That mentioned, the construction is supposed to be greater than merely useful. According to the group at Rethinking the Future, the roadway provides “to the aesthetic appeal of Bangkok. The soaring flyovers and meticulous urban planning create a distinctive skyline, showcasing the symbiosis between functionality and beauty in architectural design.”