Today we explore some of the world’s most costly bridges ever constructed – each costing billions! Are you surprised? Welcome to public infrastructure where deadlines and finances don’t play a factor! Below we list ten most costly bridges ever constructed since 1900.
10 Expensive Bridges Ever Constructed
1. Bridge connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macau costs $20 billion (£15.2 billion).
At 55 kilometers in length, HZMB (Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge) is the longest sea crossing bridge and tunnel system worldwide. Connecting Zhuhai, Macau, and Hong Kong it offers visitors and travelers a convenient alternative to taking the ferry between Macau and Zhuhai on one side and Hong Kong and Macau on the other.
2. Japan’s Great Seto Bridge cost £11.7 billion ($15.4 billion).
Connecting Okama and Kagawa prefectures is the Great Seto Bridge (Seto hashi), an array of double-deck bridges spanning five small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Construction began on this project between 1978 and 1988 as part of Honsh-Shikoku Bridge Project linking Honsh with Shikoku via three paths between 1978-1988; at 13.1 kilometers it stands as one of the longest two-tiered bridge systems ever erected (8.1 miles).
3. China’s Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge cost £6.46 billion ($8.5 billion).
The Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge connects China to the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and is one of the greatest engineering feats ever accomplished. Serving as an essential lifeline, this flyover bridge links Shanghai and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province; two major population centers within China.
4. Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge US$6.5 billion (£4.9 billion) for the replacement of the Eastern Span
Under a building project known as Eastern Spance Replacement, a risky cantilever section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be upgraded with a safer self-anchored suspension bridge (SAS). The bridge will span San Francisco Bay between Yerba Buena Island and Emeryville in United States of America.
Between 2002 and 2013 was built California’s eastern bridge replacement project, known more commonly by its generic name as “the bridge”. At $6.4 billion it stands as California’s costliest public works project ever undertaken and originally scheduled to open in 2007, but due to numerous issues was delayed until September 2, 2013.
5. Resund Bridge, Denmark/Sweden: £4.9 billion ($6.5 billion)
Remarkable engineering achievement, the Resund Bridge offers an enchanting trip by car or train between Copenhagen and Malmo. Given Skane province was previously part of Denmark and tension between Swedes and Danes was at one time high, its symbolic importance should only grow stronger.
6. Denmark’s Great Belt Bridge costs $6.28 billion (£4.8 billion).
Driving across the Great Belt gives an insight into the enormous effort put forth to construct the Great Belt Fixed Link bridge complex – one of the largest bridges worldwide. This complex includes Eastern Bridge (a suspension bridge), Western Bridge (low level bridge) and Eastern Tunnel (an undersea bored tunnel.)
7. Japan’s Akashi Kaikyo Bridge costs $4.96 billion (£3.8 billion).
The Akashi Strait, a 1,500-meter international waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean with Japan’s Sea of Japan, is crossed by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.
Kobe (on Honshu’s mainland) and Iwaya are connected by an amazing suspension bridge spanning Awaji Island; its beauty at night earned it the moniker Pearl Bridge.
8. Replacement US$4.5 billion (£3.4 billion) Evergreen Point Floating Bridge
Evergreen Point Floating Bridge links Seattle with its eastern suburbs over Lake Washington. When first introduced in 2016, this world-class floating bridge set several records.
9. Russia/Ukraine Kerch Strait Bridge cost: $3.7 billion (£2.8 billion)\
After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Russia approved construction of the controversial Kerch Strait Bridge – costing an estimated $3.7 billion (PS2.8 billion), it completed in May 2018.
10. Canada’s New Champlain Bridge cost $3.4 billion (£2.6 billion).
As part of the New Champlain Bridge Corridor project, a 3.4-kilometer Samuel De Champlain Bridge with six lanes for automobile traffic and one for cyclists and pedestrians would replace the existing Champlain Bridge across St. Lawrence River.
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