From the Millau Viaduct in France to China’s newest megabridges, see which structures rank among the world’s tallest.
Bridges have always been one of the most awe-inspiring marvels of engineering. However, in the last few decades, record-breaking structures have redefined bridge building and taken it to a new level. In this list, when we talk about the “tallest” bridges in the world, we mean structural height, the distance from the top of the bridge’s towers or pylons down to the lowest visible part of their base.
This is not the same as deck height, which measures how far the roadway sits above the ground or water beneath. Some tallest towers support bridges that are not the “highest” above valleys or rivers, while others with modest towers span enormous gorges.As of 2025, the world’s tallest bridges by structural height are dominated by recent and ongoing projects in China, though France’s Millau Viaduct remains one of the most iconic. Many of these bridges are still under construction, indicating how rapidly new infrastructure continues to reshape the rankings. Below are the seven tallest bridges by structural height, each an extraordinary achievement in design and scale.Puzhehei Bridge – 385 mOnce completed, the Puzhehei Bridge in Yunnan Province, China, is set to become the tallest bridge by structural height. Its western tower will reach 385 meters , surpassing all existing records. The cable-stayed design features a main span of 930 meters across the Nanpan River valley. Because of the rising reservoir below, its deck will sit about 444 meters above the water surface.Scheduled for completion in 2028, the bridge is designed for expressway traffic and will play a major role in regional connectivity. Its scale reflects both China’s rapid infrastructure expansion and its engineering ambition.Changtai Yangtze River Bridge – 352 mThe Changtai Yangtze River Bridge in Jiangsu Province, China, has towers that rise to 352 meters . Opened to traffic in 2025, the bridge stretches more than 10 kilometers across the Yangtze River, making it one of the longest bridges in the world as well as one of the tallest.Its central cable-stayed span is 1,176 meters, and the design integrates multiple modes of transportation, carrying an expressway, a local highway, and intercity rail lines. Engineers used advanced steel-concrete composite techniques and deployed some of the largest cranes to position components with millimeter precision.Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge – 350 mThis upcoming suspension bridge across the Yangtze River will include towers that stand 350 meters tall. The main span is projected at over 2,300 meters, among the world’s longest suspension spans. Once completed, it will connect key industrial cities along the Yangtze, easing traffic and trade flows in the Yangtze River Delta region.While still under construction, it represents one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in China’s bridge-building program. Its immense scale ensures it will rank just behind the Changtai Bridge and ahead of France’s Millau Viaduct in terms of tower height.Ma’anshan Railway Bridge – 345 mThe Ma’anshan Yangtze River Bridge in Anhui Province, China, is a road-rail bridge under construction, not a rail-only crossing. Its towers are expected to reach about 345 meters , and its main span will measure around 1,120 meters, making it one of the largest cable-stayed spans in the world. The upper deck is designed to carry a six-lane expressway, while the lower deck will accommodate a two-track high-speed railway and two metro tracks. This dual-purpose design requires exceptional stiffness, vibration control, and precision engineering, allowing heavy highway loads and high-speed rail traffic to share the same structure safely.Millau Viaduct – 343 mThe Millau Viaduct in southern France remains one of the most famous tall bridges in the world. Completed in 2004, it set a benchmark for modern bridge engineering, with its highest pylon rising 343 meters . The bridge carries the A75 autoroute across the Tarn valley, stretching 2,460 meters.The deck stands about 270 meters above the valley floor, giving drivers sweeping landscape views. Designed by structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and architect Norman Foster, the viaduct combines elegant design with structural strength, making it as much a work of art as a transportation artery.Shiziyang Bridge – 342 mThe Shiziyang Bridge, currently under construction in Guangdong Province, China, will feature towers 342 meters tall. It is designed as a suspension bridge that will cross a branch of the Pearl River estuary, linking major transportation corridors in southern China.While final details of its span length and materials are still being refined, early reports suggest that it will carry expressway traffic across one of the busiest water channels in the region. Its placement in the rankings highlights how coastal areas of China invest in large-scale infrastructure to support their dense urban and industrial clusters.Russky Bridge — 320.9 mThe Russky Bridge in Vladivostok, Russia, is a landmark cable-stayed crossing whose two A-shaped pylons rise about 320.9 metres above the foundation. Opened in July 2012 to link Russky Island with the mainland, the bridge features a 1,104-metre central span and a total length of roughly 3.1 km.Its deck carries four traffic lanes with a navigation clearance of about 70 m beneath. Built for the 2012 APEC summit, Russky combined novel construction techniques, self-climbing formwork, and long parallel-strand stays to handle extreme weather and produce one of the world’s tallest and most technically ambitious cable-stayed towers.Changing the RankingsMany readers may be surprised not to see Turkey’s 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which holds the record for the longest suspension span. Despite its global fame, its tower height is now surpassed by newer projects, particularly in China. It is also important to distinguish structural height from deck height. For example, the recently completed Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Guizhou has a roadway deck more than 600 meters above the river gorge, making it the “highest” by deck height but not the tallest by tower size.While France still holds a place with the Millau Viaduct, China is leading the field with an unprecedented number of megabridges that combine height, span, and capacity. As projects like Puzhehei and Zhangjiagang near completion, they will continue resetting global records and reshaping the idea of what a bridge can be.
Bridges Building China Construction Engineering Height Megastructures Roads Structural Engineering Structure Tallest Bridges
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