Another day, another fun fact from us here at Secret Singapore. Did you know the longest bridge in the world is located in a country near Singapore. A Guinness World Record, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China holds the title as being the world’s longest bridge. The engineering marvel was completed in 2010 and stretches a whopping 164.8 kilometres (102.4 miles) connecting many bustling cities in China. Here’s what we know about the longest bridge on earth.
World’s longest bridge
The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China is the longest bridge in the world. It stretches a whopping 164.8 kilometres. The engineering marvel features the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway – one of China’s most significant railway routes – connecting the bustling cities of Shanghai and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province.
The world’s longest bridge was built 100 feet in the air using steel over water including across the Yangtze River Delta. It takes around two hours to cross in total by car and connects several cities in China. These cities include Kunshan, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Danyang. The bridge is mainly used for railway traffic but certain parts incorporate lanes for vehicles, including cars and trucks. Meanwhile, the entire high-speed railway allows passengers to traverse approximately 1,000 kilometres in under five hours.
The record-breaking structure traverses diverse terrains, including rice paddies, canals, rivers, lakes, and urban areas. For instance, one notable section covers a 9-kilometre stretch over Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou using 2,000 pillars and 450,000 tons of steel.
In fact, the revolutionary transportation bridge was built to withstand typhoons, defy earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Meanwhile, the project cost around $8.5 billion American Dollars to construct over four years. Certainly, this is a key tourist attraction in China.
How to get there from Singapore
There are several options to reach the world’s longest bridge from Singapore. But the quickest way involves a combination of air travel and ground transportation. We recommend booking a direct flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport in just five hours, followed by a high-speed train from Shanghai to Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, which is part of the bridge route. The train travel time ranges from 50 minutes to over one hour.
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