nang, Vietnam’s Golden Bridge ©Hien Phung Thu/Shutterstock
Even if urban planning and skyscrapers occasionally garner more media attention, building bridges is still one of the world’s most complex and costly architectural projects. The development of these projects is a billion-dollar industry that is expanding annually, starting with planning and ending with rendering.
There are 614,387 bridges in the United States alone (of course, there are millions more internationally). Turkey is home to the oldest bridge in existence that is still in use. This single-arch, slab-stone bridge in Smyrna, Turkey (formerly known as Izmir), spans the Meles River. In 850 B.C., this bridge was constructed. and it remains functional to this day with appropriate upkeep.
For hundred-million-dollar projects like the ones on this list, engineering firms like N5 Global and equipment manufacturers like Caterpillar collaborate. These are the world’s priciest bridges ever constructed.