12 World’s Most Strange & Amazing Bridges

12 Most Strange & Amazing Bridges You Will Ever See in the World. But one of the funny things about this bridge is that whenever it is lowered or opened..!!

12.Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

This floating bridge, which was completed in 1966, carries State Route 520 from Seattle to Medina, Washington. At 1.4 miles long, it has one of the longest floating spans in the world.

Because Lake Washington can be more than 200 feet deep, building a suspension bridge across it was not a viable option in the 1960s. The floating design, which relies on concrete pontoons that are anchored by underwater weights, was the perfect solution. In its more than 40 years of existence, the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge has been battered by high-speed winds and even withstood a barge crashing into it. However, these abuses, along with the bridge’s vulnerability to earthquakes, have forced the Washington Department of Transportation to launch a project aimed at replacing the structure.

11.Slauerhoffbrug

Slauerhoffbrug

The Slauerhoffbrug is a tail bridge that can quickly be raised to allow ships to pass. It was completed in 2000 and spans a small section of the Harlinger Vaart River.

Instead of rotating open, the Slauerhoffbrug is lifted up by a dual hydraulic system that is built into its pylon. The Slauerhoffbrug is L-shaped, with its foundation sitting adjacent to the road.

10.Puente de la Mujer

Puente de la Mujer

The Puente de la Mujer, or “Woman’s Bridge” in English, is Santiago Calatrava’s second design on this list. The Puente de la Mujer, like the Sundial Bridge, is a cantilever spar cable-stayed design.

The portion of the bridge’s deck that is supported by the inclined pylon can rotate a full 90 degrees to accommodate passing ships. “A lot of bridge architects, like myself, are trying to get movement into these bridges, and this is one way to do it,” MacDonald says. “[Calatrava] is continually trying to put movement in his architecture. You could say he has introduced movement to the built environment, in both buildings and bridges.”

9.Oresund Bridge

Oresund Bridge

The Oresund Bridge crosses the Oresund strait and joins Sweden with Denmark. This marvel of ingenuity has a total length of 4.8 miles and was completed in 2000.

The Oresund Bridge is an incredibly complex structure that begins as a cable-stayed bridge in Sweden and ends as a tunnel in Denmark. A small artificial island was built around the tunnel’s entrance to keep water from creeping in. Not only is the bridge equipped to handle four lanes of traffic; it also has a double-track railway. Creating the tunnel was likely the best and cheapest solution to completing the crossing without impeding boat traffic, MacDonald says.

8.Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Gateshead Millennium Bridge

This award-winning tilt-bridge is the brainchild of Wilkinson Eyre, a London-based architecture firm. It crosses the River Tyne, connecting Gateshead and New Castle.

A system of six hydraulic rams can pivot the bridge’s walkway at a 40-degree angle in order to let boats pass. Wilkinson Eyre describes the bridge’s movement as looking like a “slowly opening eyelid” when it raises, a process that takes fewer than 5 minutes. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the bridge was fully constructed before being installed as a single piece by Europe’s largest floating crane, Asian Hercules II.

7.Langkawi Sky Bridge

Langkawi Sky Bridge

This curved pedestrian bridge is 2000 feet above sea level at the top of Mount Mat Cincang in Malaysia. Tourists who want to walk across the 400-foot long structure must ride up to it in a cable car.

Set above the treetops, the Langkawi Sky Bridge is one of the highest elevated single-stay bridges in the world. The deck is less than 6 feet wide and its curved shape gives travelers a panoramic view of Langkawi, an archipelago of 99 islands. Each end is fitted with triangular observation decks.

6.Pont Gustave-Flaubert

Pont Gustave-Flaubert

This vertical lift bridge crosses the Seine, one of France’s major commercial waterways. With pylons that stand 282 feet tall, the Pont Gustave-Flaubert is Europe’s tallest lift bridge.

Instead of separating in the middle like a drawbridge, the Pont Gustave-Flaubert’s deck is lifted straight up by a butterfly-shaped pulley system so tall ships can pass through. The deck takes about 12 minutes to be pulled all the way up, which happens about 30 or 40 times per year. MacDonald tells PM that using twin roadways allows more sunlight to penetrate the water under the bridge, an important consideration for the river’s ecosystem.

5.Millau Viaduct

Millau Viaduct

English architect Norman Foster designed this massive cable-stayed bridge to carry travelers over the valley of the Tarn River. It opened in 2004 with a final price tag of nearly $600 million.

With its apex at 1125 feet, the Millau Viaduct is one of the world’s tallest bridges. Despite its huge size, the construction period lasted only three years thanks to the use of GPS guidance systems, self-climbing formwork and prefabricated materials. “What is unusual is to have the towers taper in both directions as they rise,” Macdonald says.

More than 1500 tons of cables support the 1.5-mile structure. Because its deck is 885 feet above sea level, drivers often find themselves above the clouds on foggy days.

4.Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge

Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge

Completed in 2002, this asymmetrical bridge crosses Lake Paranoa. Its name pays homage to former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, who established Brasilia as the nation’s capital in the 1950s.

Why It’s Innovative: Three steel arches that jump from side to side support the deck of the 3900-foot-long bridge. Architect Alexandre Chan, who designed the bridge, has said that he wanted to avoid straight lines on the deck in order to accentuate Brasilia’s striking sunsets.

3.Sundial Bridge

Sundial Bridge

Renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed this cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge to be made from a combination of steel, glass and granite. Completed in 2004, the pedestrian bridge crosses the Sacramento River in the Turtle Bay Exploration Park.

As its name implies, the bridge’s 217-foot-tall support tower acts as a giant sundial. The deck of this pedestrian bridge is made from nonskid glass panels to give walkers a greater sense of the river. MacDonald notes that the deck’s truss bears the bulk of the bridge’s load, while the cables appear slack compared with those of other bridges.

2.Henderson Waves

Henderson Waves

The 118-foot tall Henderson Waves is Singapore’s tallest pedestrian bridge, linking Mount Faber Park with Telok Blangah Hill Park.

Pedestrian bridges allow for a certain amount of creativity that’s not possible with structures that need to support heavy-duty use. The undulating outer shell of the Henderson Waves is striking, and the inside is shaped into benches where tourists can sit and gaze at nature or the nearby skyline of Singapore City. The bridge, which is about 900 feet long, is illuminated by an array of LED lights each night to bolster its snake-like presence in the midst of two national parks.

1.Rolling Bridge

Rolling Bridge

UK-based design firm Heatherwick Studio created this 39-foot timber and steel bridge in 2004 to act as a walkway over a small section of London’s Grand Union Canal.

A hydraulic system built into the bridge’s handrail allows it to retract and curl into an octagon. The retractable design allows for boats to cruise through the canal unobstructed, and the bridge rolls up every Friday at noon.

Donald MacDonald, an architect with more than 40 years of experience who has worked on over a dozen bridges, tells PM that, “this bridge represents an experimental gesture, and it’s really complicated for what it does.”