History of Longest Suspension Spans
See also: Timeline of three longest spans| Bridge | Location | length |
Year became longest span |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Bridge at Yaxchilan | Mexico | 62 m (203 ft) | 600 | Hemp-rope simple suspension footbridge. Existence unproven. No longer standing. |
| Chakzam Bridge | Tibet | 137 m (449 ft) | 1430 | Chain simple suspension footbridge south of Lhasa, built by Thangtong Gyalpo. Reported still in use by British spies in 1878. Later (before 1904) fell into disuse after river course changed, swamping the northern end. Dynamited by Red Chinese soldiers after the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950. |
| Union Bridge | UK | 137 m (449 ft) | 1820 | The oldest in the world still in use today. |
| Menai Suspension Bridge | UK | 176 m (577 ft) | 1826 | |
| Zähringen Bridge | Switzerland | 271 m (889 ft) | 1834 | The bridge was removed in the 1920s. |
| Wheeling Suspension Bridge | West Virginia - Ohio | 308 m (1,010 ft) | 1849 | The longest deck span from 1849 until 1866, and the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in use in the United States. |
| Queenston-Lewiston Bridge | USA and Canada | 317 m (1,040 ft) | 1851 | The longest cable span from 1851 until it was destroyed by wind in 1864. However, the road deck span was only 258 meters long. |
| John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge | Kentucky - Ohio | 322 m (1,056 ft) | 1866 | |
| Niagara Clifton Bridge | USA and Canada | 384 m (1,260 ft) | 1869 | Replaced in 1899. |
| Brooklyn Bridge | USA | 486 m (1,594 ft) | 1883 | |
| Williamsburg Bridge | USA | 488 m (1,601 ft) | 1903 | It was the longest suspension span but not the longest span of all bridges. The Forth Railway Bridge with two spans of 521 m was longer. |
| Bear Mountain Bridge | USA | 497 m (1,631 ft) | 1924 | It was the longest suspension span but not the longest span of all bridges. The Quebec Bridge with a span of 549 m was longer. The first suspension bridge to have a concrete deck. The construction methods pioneered in building it would make possible several much larger projects to follow. |
| Benjamin Franklin Bridge | Pennsylvania - New Jersey | 533 m (1,749 ft) | 1926 | It was the longest suspension span but not the longest span of all bridges. |
| Ambassador Bridge | USA and Canada | 564 m (1,850 ft) | 1929 | Since this bridge was built, the record for longest bridge span has only been held by suspension bridges. |
| George Washington Bridge | New York - New Jersey | 1,067 m (3,501 ft) | 1931 | The first span longer than 1 km. |
| Golden Gate Bridge | California | 1,280 m (4,200 ft) | 1937 | |
| Verrazano-Narrows Bridge | New York City | 1,298 m (4,259 ft) | 1964 | |
| Humber Bridge | Great Britain | 1,410 m (4,630 ft) | 1981 | |
| Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge | Japan | 1,991 m (6,532 ft) | 1998 | The longest span since 1998.
The first main span longer than 1-mile (1.6 km). |
Sources:
Read more about this topic: List Of Longest Suspension Bridge Spans
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, longest, suspension and/or spans:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Freud is all nonsense; the secret of neurosis is to be found in the family battle of wills to see who can refuse longest to help with the dishes. The sink is the great symbol of the bloodiness of family life.”
—Julian Mitchell (20th century)
“That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Men go out to admire the heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the broadest spans of rivers, the circle of ocean, the revolutions of stars, and leave themselves behind.”
—St. Augustine (354–430)