3. Oresund Bridge
Oresund Bridge is the link bridge between Denmark and Sweden. The bridge came up as a challenge for the engineers since it had to carry both train and cars while the bridge had to be joined with an immersed tunnel as well. The project’s cost was around $3 billion. The whole project can be divided into three major parts; the tunnel, artificial island and the cable stayed bridge stretching over 5 miles which ends on Swedish soil. The bridge is the longest cable stayed bridge for both cars and trains. Its towers are about 204 m high. The lower deck is for the railway while the upper deck is for cars.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aj8lBniLtw[/youtube]
2. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge
Japan’s pride- The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge had to face quite some issues during its construction. With around 4,000 small island, Japan enjoys to be the most seismically active region. The bridge survived a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and was then re-designed during its construction phase to cater for some of the damage that had been inflicted. The rest of the construction went quite successful and without any interruptions. The bridge opened in 1998 with a span of 3.9 Km with towers about 283 meters high. The cables carry tensile forces of 132,000 tons. It also enjoys the award of being the longest span suspension bridge.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgaG4mdyK8o[/youtube]
1. Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The number one spot has been taken by Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel. As the name suggests, it is composed of bridges and tunnels. It has a total span of 27.4 Km with majority of the bridge-tunnel structure being just above the water. There are 5,000 piers to support this bridge. The tunnels, 1 mile long, allow for the ships to pass while taking the traffic beneath the bay’s navigation area which then re-surfaces on to two man-made islands. In 1965 this masterpiece won the award of ‘Outstanding Engineering Achievement’ and was designated as ‘One of Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World’.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn2xK0grN0M[/youtube]
