Suspended bridges: the longest in the world before the bridge over the Strait

According to the project signed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, The bridge over the Strait of Messina will be a suspended bridge with a span of 3,300 meters. Which means that between one pylon and the other, 3.3 kilometers of “air” will end, with the asphalt suspended in the void. Number that, when the bridge is completed, will represent a world record, exceeding 1,300 meters by the current leader of the ranking by almost 1,300 meters. The Dardanelli bridge, in Türkiye, which dominates the narrow homonym with a span 2.023 meters long.

The current record

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Inaugurated in 2023, the Dardanelli bridge is overall more than 5,000 meters longbut the light between one pylon and the other is relevant for record purposes. A value equal to 2,023 meterstherefore lower than 1,277 meters than that relating to the future bridge over the Strait of Messina. And which also has a strongly symbolic value, because it was chosen with the aim of celebrating the first 100 years of the Foundation of the Republic. With its construction, the Dardanelli bridge connects the Thrace, that is the European part of Türkiye, with the Anatolian peninsulabreaking down travel times. If before, in fact, a 50 -minute ferry trip was needed to cross the strait, with the bridge 10 cars are enough. A case similar to that of the bridge over the Strait of Messina, which was created to shorten the connection times between the Italian peninsula and Sicily. In addition to cars, however, trains will also pass, up to 200 convoys per day according to the project presented by the Ministry.

suspended bridges, as they are made

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A bridge defines itself suspended when its structure is supported by vertical cables anchored cables arranged parallel to the ground, in turn fixed to pylons. For this reason, they take on an easily identifiable profile, with horizontal cables ined downwards to combine two high structures. A famous example of a suspended bridge, for example, is the Golden Gate Bridge of San Franciscowhich had immediately become the longest in the world with a span of 1,282 meters. In reality, it is not uncommon for a suspended bridge to win the world record of length after the construction, because it is the type that allows you to obtain the higher light values ever.

bridges suspended in the world

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The longest suspended bridges in the world are concentrated above all in Asia. In Japan, in fact, there is the second overall through the size of the span, the Bridge on the Akashi Straitwith a distance between the two pylons of 1,991 meters. This follows several Chinese infrastructures made in the last 20 years, from Yangsigang bridge On the blue river at the Nansha bridge in the Guangdong. Excluding the Dardanelli bridge, the longest in Europe is currently in Denmark. The Storebæltsforbindelsenwhich connects the two islands of Selandia and Fionia, with a total length of 6,790 meters and a light of 1,624 meters.