EngineeringLength

Longest arch bridge span

Record

600 m

1,969 ft

Record holder
Tian'e Longtan Bridge
Longest arch bridge span
Photo: Glabb · CC BY-SA 3.0

How the record evolved

Chart of the Longest arch bridge span record, from 1796 to today 1796 today 72 m 600 m

The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).

YearRecordHolder
current600 mTian'e Longtan Bridge
575 mPingnan Third Bridge
552 mChaotianmen Bridge
518 mNew River Gorge Bridge
510 mBayonne Bridge
298 mHell Gate Bridge
256 mUpper Steel Arch Bridge
172 mLuiz I Bridge
160 mMaria Pia Bridge
72 mWearmouth Bridge

Put them in order

Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.

  1. 256 mUpper Steel Arch Bridge
  2. 518 mNew River Gorge Bridge
  3. 600 mTian'e Longtan Bridge
  4. 72 mWearmouth Bridge

What to remember

On 1 February 2024, the Nantian Expressway opened a bridge over the Hongshui River in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The Tian'e Longtan Bridge crosses the reservoir of the large Longtan Dam, 6 km downstream. It is really two closely spaced structures, one for each direction of travel, joined only at the foundations and by crossbeams in the arches. Each of the two arches spans 600 m.

That span is usually calculated along the axis of the arch, as if the structure were very thin, between its fixed supports. The bridge is 2,488.55 m long and 26 m wide, standing 140 m above the highest water level and 290 m above the original riverbed. It moved ahead of the Pingnan Third Bridge, which held the record at 575 m in 2020.

In 1796, the record stood at 72 m, with the Wearmouth Bridge. It rose to 160 m in 1877 with the Maria Pia Bridge, then to 510 m in 1931 with the Bayonne Bridge. Between the Wearmouth Bridge and Tian'e Longtan, the span grew by a ratio of 8.33.

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