Bridges, Ranked

Its 1,280 m main span was the world's longest until 1964, and the Art Deco towers in 'International Orange' make it the most photographed bridge on Earth.

The first steel-wire suspension bridge, its 486 m span was the longest in the world when it opened and it remains a defining symbol of New York.

At 343 m to the top of its tallest mast it is the tallest bridge in the world, a Norman Foster-designed cable-stayed span crossing the Tarn valley above the clouds.

Held the record for the world's longest suspension span at 1,991 m for 24 years until 2022, and was engineered to survive typhoons and magnitude-8.5 earthquakes.

The world's tallest steel arch bridge at 134 m, its 'Coathanger' silhouette anchors Sydney's skyline and hosts a popular summit climb.

A combined bascule and suspension bridge whose Gothic-clad towers still lift for river traffic, endlessly mistaken by tourists for 'London Bridge'.

A medieval stone arch bridge lined with jewelers' shops that famously survived WWII when retreating Germans destroyed every other Florentine bridge.

A 516 m Gothic stone bridge lined with 30 mostly Baroque statues, it was the only crossing of the Vltava for centuries and remains Prague's pedestrian centerpiece.

The oldest bridge across the Grand Canal, its single 28 m stone arch was an engineering gamble that critics predicted would collapse — it never did.

A cantilever railway bridge and UNESCO World Heritage Site whose vast red steel diamonds became a byword for endless work ('painting the Forth Bridge').

A rail-and-road link that runs 8 km before diving into a tunnel via an artificial island, connecting Copenhagen and Malmö and inspiring the TV crime drama.

One of the tallest single-span concrete arch bridges in the world, its 79 m curve over the Pacific coast is among the most filmed spots on Highway 1.

At 12.3 km of suspended deck it was the longest bridge in Europe for two decades, a competent cable-stayed crossing of the Tagus that few outside Portugal can name.

A 12.9 km link to Prince Edward Island engineered to withstand winter ice floes; an impressive feat but a monotonous drive with no view of the water.

A 35 km cross-sea span that was among the world's longest ocean bridges at opening — a record-chaser more notable for length than beauty.

Collapsed just four months after opening when 64 km/h winds set it flexing into destruction, a disaster now taught in every engineering course.

A single fractured eyebar caused a sudden total collapse during rush hour, killing 46 people and triggering the first U.S. national bridge inspection standards.

A section of the aging cable-stayed viaduct gave way in a storm, killing 43 and becoming a symbol of neglected infrastructure maintenance.