the creation of large highways roads and train networks is not possible without the help of bridges by connecting land masses over giant Canyons rivers oceans lakes and fjords they facilitate the movement of people and material from place to place and drive the economy forward in today's video we're going to be taking a look at the top 15 largest Mega bridges in the world let's begin number 15 the Chen Hua kaushon Viaduct as far as length goes the bridge that holds the record for being the world's second longest is the Chiang Hua kaishong Viaduct it's located in Taiwan the bridge carries both a highway and a train line that connects the cities of Zhu ying and bagashan over a length of 157 kilometers unlike many other trains on this list the decision was made to place the viaduct along an active seismic Zone and while this may have seemed rather foolish it has several features that fortify it against Earthquakes for example it's designed to allow trains to stop safely during seismic events while also having a disconnected design that prevents damage from spreading across the structure therefore allowing the viaduct to be easily and quickly repaired after an earthquake as such despite its location this Viaduct is able to facilitate the passage of tens of millions of vehicles every single year number 14. the danyang kunchan grand bridge when it comes to length the bridge that takes the cake for being the world's longest is the danyang kunchan bridge built as part of a super project known as The Beijing Shanghai high-speed Railway that connects the Eastern Chinese cities of Ningbo and xiaxing cutting down travel time between this 165 kilometer stretch from four and a half hours by a public transport to just two hours when combined with the fact that the entire thing is a hundred meters above ground it becomes easy to see that this Mega project was quite the undertaking as it not only took ten thousand workers four years to build and cost an astonishing eight and a half billion dollars or about 51 million per kilometer this price tag may seem extreme but the good news is that it seems to have been Justified after all on a per year basis it shuttles over 180 million passengers making this infrastructure project of vital Transportation like in the region number 13 the Hong Kong Zoo High Bridge while the Hong Kong Zoo High Bridge may not be the world's longest bridge and holds the distinction for being the world's longest sea Crossing first opened in 2018 the structure is essentially a 55 kilometer long Behemoth that consists of three cable State Bridges an undersea tunnel and four artificial islands all of which connect Hong Kong to Mainland China coming in at a price of 20 billion dollars the bridge was rather expensive to build while the fact that 18 people died and hundreds were injured while building it gave it the moniker The Bridge of Death to make matters worse despite it being able to handle lots of traffic the bridge is exceptionally difficult to use as it requires a special permit to drive across it and facilitates absolutely zero public transportation when you further consider that this bridge even has built-in yawn cameras that report drivers to the authorities if they show signs of being sleepy it becomes clear that this bridge isn't as great as it seems number 12 the six October Bridge while the name six October Bridge may sound like a nod to Oktoberfest or the 6th it in fact has nothing to do with Drke or Toronto at all instead it made its way onto this list for being the largest bridge on the African continent coming in at 20 and a half kilometers long it crosses the Nile twice from the West Bank suburbs connecting various parts of the Egyptian capital of Cairo to one another named in commemoration of the so-called Crossing which is an event that happened during 1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel it's often considered to be the spinal cord of Cairo as approximately a half million citizens of the city use the bridge on a daily basis as a result during times of civil unrest it's often one of the first pieces of infrastructure targeted by protesters however so long as everything is stable it's a great route to use to get from point A to point B while traveling through the city number 11. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway if you happen to be close to New Orleans Louisiana there's a fair chance that you have used the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway made to help cars Cross Lake Pontchartrain it's considered to be the longest bridge in the United States and the longest in the world that runs continuously over water as there's no stops or artificial islands in the way consisting of two parallel Bridges the longer of the two is an impressive 38.
4 kilometers in length although there weren't always two routes across this water body you see the first of the two Bridges was completed in 1956 but when traffic on it exceeded its capacity a second was added with this one being completed in 1969. that wasn't interesting enough the bridge is also very strong as it survived several hurricanes over the years and even with the monstrosity that was Hurricane Katrina only managing to damage this structure minimally so the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is an admirable piece of infrastructure number 10 the Akashi kaikyu Bridge while turkey's 1915 chanakale Bridge has currently taken the top spot as the world's longest suspension bridge for decades that title belonged to the Akashi kaikyo Bridge completed in 1998 after Decades of calls for a safer alternative to ferries this 1900 meter long structure is part of the Kobe awajinaruto Expressway and connects the islands of Honshu and shikoku while it costs a total of 3. 6 billion dollars to build these high costs are rather Justified as the bridge is located in an area that's notorious for seismic activity and storms the bridge was designed with a series of counterweights pendulums and steel truss girders to help stabilize the structure in the event of a quake and allow it to endure Winds of up to 290 kilometers per hour if that wasn't enough the bridge even has aesthetic value as it resembles a String of Pearls when it's lit when displays a variety of colors depending on the season so a few structures are quite as impressive as the Akashi kaikyu Bridge number nine the manchick swamp Bridge America's interstate highway system is a massive Network that consists of over 78 000 kilometers of road yet the structure that holds the title for being the longest bridge to be part of it is the Manchester swamp Bridge coming in at just under 36.
7 kilometers in length it's widely considered to be the longest non-toll bridge in the world yet despite this it was certainly not cheap to make located in the middle of a Louisiana swamp piles had to be driven 76 meters deep in order to keep it in place and the result was a bridge that cost an astonishing 4. 3 billion dollars when it was constructed in 1979 which in modern terms is closer to 17. 5 million dollars per kilometer beyond that insane cost the bridge also stands apart for having alligators nesting under its twin concrete trestles while some also allege that it's haunted by a Cajun werewolf known as rugaroo and a voodoo princess however no matter what you believe what's clear is that the Manchester swamp Bridge is a pretty cool structure number eight the George Washington Bridge while cities in China and Southeast Asia have continued to dwarf their North American counterparts one thing that they don't have quite yet is the world's busiest Bridge that's because that title officially belongs to the George Washington Bridge which for all intents and purposes is absolutely crammed on a daily basis on average almost 290 000 cars buses and trucks travel across the George Washington Bridge daily which makes sense due to the fact that it connects New Jersey to Manhattan across the Hudson River first built in 1931 by swiss-born engineer offmar H Amman its main span of 1067 meters doubled the record for suspension bridges and soon many flocked to the eight-lane bridge to access the city of New York more easily than they could have in the past however by 1955 it was becoming clear that the Bridge's capacity was simply too low to meet demand and this convinced the local government to add a lower deck with six more traffic Lanes along with an additional bus terminal and Highway connections this addition also lengthen the bridge out to 1450 meters to this day it stands as a symbol of U.
S industrial achievement number seven the Rio nitoroy Bridge Brazil had its golden age during the 1970s and it was during this time of economic strength and growth that they constructed the massive prionitoroid bridge at a length of 13. 3 kilometers and with its largest span being 300 meters the bridge is considered to be the largest bridge in South America that's open to vehicle traffic but since by most accounts it's often too congested with traffic to be an efficient route I wouldn't suggest going for a drive on it during rush hour however beyond the traffic one other major problem that many people have with the bridge is its name you see while most people refer to it as the Rio niteroid Bridge it's officially known as the president Costa e Silva bridge in a nod to the military dictator who built it as a result of this rather outdated name there have been calls to change it to the Herbert de Souza bridge and a nod to a prominent activist and sociologist by the same name however despite it being proposed as a bill back in 2012 complaints by the military against It ultimately quashed the initiative number six the Sheikh Jaber al-amad al-sabah Causeway in recent years an influx of oil money has turned the Middle East into a Mecca of economic activity and this is necessitated the creation of infrastructure such as the Sheikh Jaber al-aman al-sabah Causeway built in the country of Kuwait for a price of about 3. 6 billion dollars back in 2019 as part of China's Infamous Global development plan known as the Belton Road initiative it comprises two main projects the first known as the main link connects Kuwait City with Northern Kuwait while the second known as the Doha link connects Kuwait City with Doha in the process it crosses two artificial islands that were constructed for entertainment and tourism purposes and the end result is a network of roads and bridges that's 48 kilometers long six Lanes wide and as much as 150 meters above ground further features such as 600 cameras to track emergency issues and traffic movement make the bridge very high tech due to its utility and due to its utility many hope that it will help make Kuwait a more attractive place for businesses and investors to set up shop however only time will tell whether or not this bridge will have such an effect number five the bangna expressway Thailand it's a country that's been on the rise in recent years and a testament to its economic activity is the bangna expressway created to release some of bangkok's notorious traffic this 55 kilometer Long Highway traverses both tracks of land and the bang pakon River and required a total of 1.
8 million cubic meters of concrete and more than a billion dollars in funding in order to build unlike most other Bridges which are built using one large blueprint the bangna expressway was instead created using what is known as a designed build contract in effect this caused the structure's construction to be divided into eight parts with each part being considered to be a separate project as a result the different sections of the bridge could be built While others were still in the design phases leading to the bridge being built and designed simultaneously Beyond its interesting contract layout the bangna expressway also stands apart due to the fact that it features both a four-lane highway below and a six-lane highway on top of it and for a period of about eight years between 2000 and 2008 it was considered to be the world's longest bridge yet while bangna has now been demoted to being the world's seventh largest bridge it's still an impressive structure and I'd highly suggest going for a drive on it if you ever take a trip to Thailand number four the 1915 Chana kale Bridge while there are many suspension bridges out there the one that takes the cake for being the longest is Turkey's 1915 Chana kalai Bridge opened on March 18th of 2022 this brand new bridge comes in at an impressive 2023 meters in length which allows it to connect the two sides of the Dardanelle Strait considered to be both a practical piece of infrastructure and a pride project by the Turkish government the bridge is filled with symbolism as it was not only named in a nod to the ottoman Naval victory over the French and British in the area during World War one but is also 2023 meters long in order to accommodate the 100th year anniversary of the Turkish Republic in 2023 costing a total of 2. 7 billion dollars to build and a ridiculously high 15 to cross it nothing about this bridge is cheap but this makes sense given the fact that it was extremely hard to build after all the area is prone to high winds and high seismic activity and so in order to come after this the bridge has had to make use of a twin box girder and other important features in order to stay standing as an interesting side note the Bridge's deck height of 73 meters means that high stacked container ships and cruise ships can pass under it while its overall height of 318 meters makes it a sight to behold as such the 1915 chanakale bridge is truly an example of excellent engineering number three the Golden Gate Bridge of all the bridges on this list few are quite as recognizable as the Golden Gate Bridge spanning across the San Francisco Peninsula at the time of its construction in 1937 it held the distinction of being the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world and while this is no longer the case its stunning Beauty means that it continues to hold the record for being the world's most photographed Bridge measuring in at 1280 meters in length and 227 meters in height its iconic status as the symbol of San Francisco has meant that it's on everything from touristy travel bugs to the logo of the hometown Golden State Warriors although what many don't realize is that the bridge was very close to having a far different appearance than it has today believe it or not the original intention was to paint it in blue and yellow stripes as the U. S Navy believed that it would help to increase its visibility however when the steel arrived in San Francisco it was already painted a burnt red Hue as a primer and rather than change it the Consulting architect decided that the color was not only just as visible but also much more visually appealing thus the bridges maintain this iconic reddish color to this day although the types of paint found on it certainly have not you see when it was first built the red primer was 66 percent lead and while this protected the steel structure from corrosion it certainly didn't do wonders for those living around it so due to its status as a toxic chemical the lead paint began to be removed in 1965 with the removal process not subsiding until 1995.
