world's longest bridge span

The world's longest main-span (distance between towers) in a suspension bridge is the Humber Estuary Bridge in England, at 4,626 feet (1,410 meters). (A suspension bridge is one in which the roadway hangs from steel cables that are attached to two or more towers.) Designed by Freeman Fox and Partners, it was begun on July 27, 1972, and opened on July 18, 1981. The Humber Bridge will be surpassed by a bridge now under construction. The double-deck Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Honshu and Shikoku, Japan, beginning construction in 1998, will have a main span of 6,529 feet (1,990 meters).

The world's longest cable-stayed suspension bridge (a bridge supported by a web of cables fanning out from two central towers) is the Pont de Normandie, at the mouth of the Seine River in LeHavre, France. This bridge opened on January 20, 1995, and spans 2,808 feet (856 meters).