From a skyway collapsing to the bottom of
the sea, to a bridge so high that a falling car would take ten whole seconds to hit the
ground. In this video, we’ll look at the most terrifying
bridges on the planet, and explore their disturbing pasts. Which of these structures would you least
like to cross? Let us know in the comments below. Let’s start with Number 10. A bridge in earthquake country. In China’s Yunnan Province, the cities of
Baoshan and Tengchong are separated by a stretch of rugged, mountainous terrain. In 2011, the government decided to link these
cities with a new expressway: a daring chain of roads, tunnels, and bridges, including
the towering Longjiang Suspension Bridge. Anyone brave enough to drive across will find
themselves a staggering 300 meters from the ground, and desperately hoping the bridge
doesn’t start to shake. Longjiang is deep in an earthquake zone, a
region of China with shakes so strong they’ve flattened entire towns. One famous tremor, in the 1970s, destroyed
400,000 local buildings in a matter of seconds. The Longjiang Suspension Bridge is fitted
with high-tech, moveable joints, which are designed to absorb any powerful earthquakes
and keep the structure safe from collapse. But with or without these moveable joints,
the idea of suffering a powerful earthquake, on a platform 300 meters above the ground,
is enough to make anyone nervous. And the Longjiang Suspension Bridge is only
the start. If the threat of earthquakes is already terrifying,
what does that make a bridge which once collapsed? Number 9. The sunken skyway. This colossal bridge, on the coast of Florida,
traverses the mouth of Tampa Bay. It’s seven kilometers long, and offers stunning
views of the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention providing an easy commute between Terra Ceia
and Saint Petersburg. They call it the Sunshine Skyway — but this
bridge has a dark past. This is actually the second iteration of the
bridge. The first was constructed in the 1950s. At the time, it was the longest bridge in
the whole of America, and one of the country's finest engineering achievements. Then disaster struck on a stormy morning in
May 1980. A huge freighter — the MV Summit Venture
— lost control in rough conditions, and crashed into the bridge, bringing a section
down into the water. Eight vehicles plunged into the ocean, including
a bus full of passengers. The original bridge was later demolished and
replaced by a newer, safer version. Defensive bumpers were placed in the water
to protect the bridge from future collisions, and these bumpers quickly proved their worth. On the day before the new bridge opened, a
shrimping vessel crashed into a bumper, sinking the ship but leaving the bridge unharmed. This version of the bridge is still standing
more than 35 years later. But the Sunshine Skyway will always be haunted
by its dark, harrowing past. The broken pieces of the former bridge are
still lying at the bottom of the sea. Next, we come to Number 8. The skyscraper bridge. The Sidu River Bridge is in the Hubei Province,
China. Just like the Longjiang Suspension Bridge,
it was built to connect two major cities — Shanghai and Chongqing — across a stretch of mountains
and ravines. These cities have a combined population of
50 million, which means the Sidu River Bridge gets plenty of traffic. Unlike Yunnan, Hubei isn’t prone to earthquakes,
but that doesn’t mean the Sidu River Bridge was easy to build. The bridge spans the gap between two tall
peaks, with sides so steep that they were hard for workers to access. It was so difficult to get from one side to
the other, that rockets were used to cast the first cables between the peaks. This technique had never been used before,
but exceptional problems require exceptional solutions. After three years of complex, treacherous
work, the bridge was finally completed with a staggering drop of 500 meters between the
deck of the bridge and the valley floor. To put the height of this bridge into context,
the Empire State Building could be placed underneath, and there would still be room
to spare. And this isn’t even the highest bridge in
the world. We’ll get to that one later. Number 7. The bridge of blood and tears. Those were the words once used to describe
the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. From an engineering perspective, it’s a
wonder. The longest sea bridge in the entire world,
it’s 55 kilometers from end to end, connecting the three Pearl Bay metropoles of Hong Kong,
Zhuhai, and Macau. But this bridge is mired in controversy, after
dangerous conditions led to the death of almost twenty workers during the course of construction. On top of that, in 2017, the bridge was rocked
by a shocking case of corruption. Jacobs China Limited, the company who provided
the project’s concrete, were shown to have falsified test results instead of performing
proper safety checks. Civil engineers have also claimed that the
bridge’s sea defenses, which are meant to protect the giant structure from powerful
waves, aren’t fit for purpose. The Hong Kong government has denied these
claims, but the engineers insist the bridge is in danger. Number 6. A bridge on stilts. Yangbaoshan Bridge is in another one of China’s
mountainous regions: The Guizhou Province. When it comes to bridges, Guizhou is rather
special. The province has almost 1,000 bridges with
a deck height of 100 meters or more. To put that into perspective, there isn’t
a single country, outside of China, with more than a hundred high-decked bridges. Italy comes closest, and that only has 60
— a tiny number in comparison to Guizhou’s thousand. Guizhou’s bridges help to streamline travel
between the region’s major urban centers, allowing locals to travel straight through
the mountains instead of taking detours around them. For example, Yangbaoshan Suspension Bridge
helps to cut the drive between Guiyang City and Huangping County from three and a half
hours to one. Yangbaoshan is sometimes referred to as a
bridge on stilts. The legs of the bridge are 110 meters long,
almost double the length of the world’s most famous suspension bridge, the Golden
Gate Bridge in San Francisco. As for the deck, it's more than 300 meters
above the surging waters of the Qingshui River. It’s an exhilarating way to commute — exhilarating,
and also terrifying. Number 5. A terrifying arch bridge. The next bridge on this list is also found
in Guizhou Province. The Dafaqu Bridge connects Renhuai with Zunyi,
improving the lives of millions of people who travel between. Bridges like this are a modern miracle for
the people of Guizhou. For thousands of years, the sky-scraping mountains
were all but impassable, but this is finally starting to change. All of the bridges we’ve seen so far have
been cable-stayed or suspension bridges. On a cable-stayed bridge, the deck is supported
by cables connected to bridge towers. On a suspension bridge, one main cable is
slung between two towers, and all other cables are connected to that. But cables aren’t the only way to support
the deck of a bridge. The Dafaqu Bridge uses a tubular arch to support
six lanes of the commuter highway. This type of structure is a throwback to ancient
China, where wooden arch bridges were often used to cross bodies of water, but never on
the scale of Dafaqu: 410 meters across, and 280 meters high. We’ll be returning to Guizhou later. One of the province’s many bridges is twice
as high as this one. But first, it’s time to take a look at the
most terrifying bridge in America. Number 4. The bridge to nowhere. Most bridges are built for the purpose of
transport: to make it easier to travel from A to B. But the Royal Gorge Bridge, in Colorado USA,
was built for a very different reason: to take a person’s breath away. It’s the central feature of an amusement
park at the edge of the Rocky Mountains, originally built in the 1920s, and open to tourists ever
since. It’s literally a bridge to nowhere: when
you reach the other side, you have no other choice but to turn around and come back again. At a height of 290 meters, it was once the
highest bridge in the world, and even though it’s lost that record, it remains as terrifying
as ever. This is a bridge with blood on its hands. In 2003, a wingsuiter died while attempting
to fly beneath it. He miscalculated his own proximity to the
bridge, and struck a railing at a speed of almost 200 kilometers per hour. The Royal Gorge Bridge attracts thousands
of thrill-seeking tourists every year, and it’s easy to understand why. But maybe those tourists should turn their
attention to China instead. The next bridge on the list makes the Royal
Gorge feel very, very small. Number 3. China’s tallest bridge. Pingtang Bridge is another example of Guizhou
Province’s incredible infrastructure. This cable-supported viaduct is more than
2 kilometers in length, and spans the width of the Coadu River Valley. It serves as a connection between Pingtang
and Luodian, slashing travel time from two and a half hours to one. The bridge is supported by three towers which
are each the size of skyscrapers — over 300 meters from top to bottom, the equivalent
of a building with 110 floors. Imagine three versions of the Shard, or three
versions of the Chrysler Building, with a four-lane highway strung between them. That’s what the builders of Pingtang Bridge
have achieved. There’s a fine line between terror and wonder,
and driving across such a colossal structure will leave a person feeling both. But this isn’t even the tallest bridge in
the world. For that, we need to go to Europe, and a valley
in the south of France. Number 2. The world’s tallest bridge. At the end of the 20th century, the Tarn valley,
in southern France, was suffering from crowded roads. Holidaymakers often passed through the region
on the way from Paris to Spain. The government decided to build a viaduct
across the Tarn valley, relieving congestion in the towns and cities by providing an alternative
route. The resulting structure was a bridge unlike
any the world had seen before. It spans a distance of two and a half kilometers
— significantly longer than Pingtang Bridge — and uses seven colossal concrete towers
to support the steel deck. The largest of these is 340 meters high, making
it taller than any single building in the whole of France, even taller than the Eiffel
Tower. It takes two whole minutes to drive across. Two whole minutes of stomach-churning vertigo. But this still isn’t the most terrifying
bridge in the world. For that, we must take a final trip to Guizhou
Province, the super-bridge center of the world. Number 1. The world’s highest bridge. There are two ways to think about the size
of a bridge. Some people measure them by the size of their
towers — that’s the record held by the Millau Viaduct. Other people think about the distance of the
road deck from the valley floor. In the case of Millau, the deck is 270 meters
from the ground. It’s a staggering height. But there’s a bridge in Guizhou which doubles
that distance, with several meters to spare. The Duge Bridge is right on the border between
Guizhou and Yunnan. It cuts through such a mountainous area that
it reduces the journey from five hours down to one. Beneath the bridge is a sharp, jagged canyon,
with a violent river at the bottom. That river is a dizzying 565 meters beneath
the bridge’s deck — the highest drop of any bridge on earth. There are only five buildings in the entire
world that wouldn’t fit beneath the deck of the Duge Bridge. If a person fell off the side, it would take
them almost fifteen seconds to hit the bottom. That’s long enough to realize what’s happening,
to seize up with terror, to whisper a prayer, and still have time to spare. It’s a staggering, breathtaking distance,
and enough to make it the most terrifying bridge in the world. Would you be brave enough to drive across
any of these bridges? Which one would you find most terrifying? Let us know in the comments below. If you want to see more about similar projects,
you should watch our video on the most insane bridge demolitions in the world. Thank you for watching, and we will see you
in the next video!
