Timeline of three longest supported deck arch bridge spans

This is the timeline of the 3 longest supported deck arch bridge spans in the world, where the road deck lies on top of the arch. The deck is supported by columns, truss, rubble or lies directly on the arch. These bridges are often found in narrow valleys.

Because of the difficulty in telling an arch bridge apart from a bent beam bridge or certain cantilever bridges, all bridges that look like supported deck arch bridges are included in this timeline. The whole arch should be aesthetically visible uninterrupted by other structures such as the deck. Suspended deck arch bridges are excluded. The lower deck of the Eads Bridge is suspended a bit, but not below the underside of the arch, and the upper deck is completely above of the arch, so Eads is included. The lower deck of Dom Luís Bridge, Porto is suspended as far as is possible, making it also a suspended bridge, so it is excluded.

There are some truss bridges like Permanent Bridge where the deck passes through the arch. Since the deck does not lie on top of the load bearing arch, but is suspended a bit measured from the top of the arch, those types are excluded. Eads Bridge was not excluded because the existence of such a lower deck does not change the appearance of the bridge much with respect of the arch.

In this timeline, only spans that were still standing a particular year are considered for that year. This is perhaps more fair than a timeline of the records of all time, because the old figures might be incorrect. At the points when the old spans falls, new spans with more certain figures are allowed to appear in the timeline. This is the historic top 3 lists of standing longest spans per day.

When several bridges of the same length exists, the oldest is counted as the longest.

Note: Some information in this timeline have uncertainty, especially before 1874.

Longest Spans 1796 - present

  • 518m New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia
  • 362m Žďákov Bridge, Czech Republic
  • 350m Cold Spring Bridge, California
  • 335m Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, Canada
  • 313m Glen Canyon Bridge, Arizona - Utah
  • 289m Rainbow Bridge, USA - Canada
  • 256m Henry Hudson Bridge, New York
  • 256m Upper Steel Arch Bridge, USA - Canada
  • 170m Müngsten Bridge, Germany
  • 165m Garabit viaduct, France
  • 160m Ponte Maria Pia, Portugal
  • 158m Eads Bridge, Illinois
  • 73m Southwark Bridge, UK
  • 76m Cascade Bridge, New York
  • 103m Colossus Bridge, Pennsylvania
  • 72m Wearmouth Bridge, UK
  • 429m Wanxian Bridge, China
  • 390m Krk Bridge, Croatia
  • 264m Sandö Bridge, Sweden
  • 220m Viaur Viaduct, France
  • 167m Whirlpool Rapids Bridge, USA - Canada
  • 152m Eads Bridge, other span
  • 63m Bamberg Bridge, Germany
  • 56m Permanent Bridge, Pennsylvania
  • 54m Pont de Vieille-Brioude, France
  • 305m Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, USA - Canada
  • 278m Almö Bridge, Sweden
  • 204m Western Bridge, Sweden
  • 188m Plougastel Bridge, France
  • 187m Old Navajo Bridge, Arizona
  • 195m Michigan Central Railway Bridge, USA - Canada
  • 160m Washington Bridge, New York
  • 115m Schwarzwasser Bridge, Germany
  • 152m Eads Bridge, other span

 from:1874  till:1877  color:Eads-Paint      text:

  • 66m Wettstein Bridge, Switzerland
  • 60m Blackfriars Bridge, UK
  • 60m Albert Edward Bridge, UK
  • 67m Union Arch Bridge, USA
  • 64m Southwark Bridge, other span
  • 49m Pont Grand, France

Longest Spans 142 BC - 1796

  • 54m Pont de Vieille-Brioude, France
  • 48m Castelvecchio Bridge, Italy
  • 72m Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge, Italy
  • 45m Pont du Diable, France
  • 38m Malabadi Bridge, Turkey
  • 37m Zhaozhou Bridge, China
  • 34m Severan Bridge, Turkey
  • 52m Trajan's Bridge, Romania - Serbia
  • 32m Ponte di Augusto, Italy
  • 24m Pons Fabricius, Italy
  • Ponte dell'Abbadia, Italy
  • Pons Milvio, Italy
  • Pons Aemilius, Italy
  • 49m Pont Grand, France
  • 52m Trajan's Bridge, other span
  • 31m Ponte Saint-Martin, Italy
  • 24m Pons Fabricius, second span
  • Pons Milvio, other span
  • Pons Aemilius, other span
  • 40m Puente de San Martín, Spain
  • 37m Puente del Diablo, Spain
  • 35m Ponte do Porto, Portugal
  • Ponte di Pietra, Italy

Known incorrect construction years

In this table the finishing years of construction of the structures shown in the timeline, that are known to be incorrect, are listed. If a guess was not made for the years of construction that are unknown, the graphical timeline could not be drawn. Some timber arches are probably missing from the timeline in the 19th century.

Incorrect year

Bridge

after 12th century

destruction of second Ponte di Augusto, etc

1829

demolition of Bamberg bridge