China opens record-breaking world’s longest cable-stayed bridge

China has inaugurated the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge in Jiangsu province, marking it as the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge. Spanning 6.4 miles (10.3 kilometers) and connecting the cities of Changzhou and Taizhou, the bridge significantly reduces travel time from 80 to 20 minutes. Its main span measures 3,960 feet (1,208 meters), and the structure integrates an expressway, a local road, and an intercity railway on a single framework—a first for a Yangtze River crossing. Construction took about six years, with the bridge’s towers reaching 1,148 feet (350 meters), equivalent to a 120-story building. The Changtai Bridge set multiple world records, including the longest span cable-stayed bridge, the longest-span combined road-rail steel truss arch bridge, and the longest continuous steel truss girders. During construction, the project team achieved several engineering milestones such as the fastest sinking of large