Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 31°35′52″N 120°27′25″E / 31.597837°N 120.456848°E |
Carries | Rail |
Locale | China’s Jiangsu province |
Characteristics | |
Total length | 164.8 kilometres (102.4 mi) |
History | |
Construction begin | ca. 2006 |
Construction end | 2010 |
Opened | 30 June 2011 |
The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the world's longest bridge. It is a 164.8-kilometre (102.4 mi) long viaduct on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway.
The bridge is located on the rail line between Shanghai and Nanjing in East China’s Jiangsu province. It is in the Yangtze River Delta where the geography is characterized by lowland rice paddies, canals, rivers, and lakes. The bridge runs roughly parallel to the Yangtze River, about 8 to 80 km (5 to 50 mi) south of the river. It passes through the northern edges of population centers (from west to east) beginning in Danyang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, and ending in Kunshan. There is a 9-kilometre long (5.6 mi) section over open water across Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou.
It was completed in 2010 and opened in 2011. Employing 10,000 people, construction took four years and cost about $8.5 billion. The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge currently holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bridge in the world in any category as of June 2011[update].