Sunshine Skyway Bridge, USA

The cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway Bridge in U.S.A., is reportedly the longest precast concrete segmental bridge in the world. Its single plane of stay cables supports a 366-m clear span 53m above the Tampa Bay ship channel and back spans of about 165m. Described by superlatives such as 'awesome,' 'spectacular,' 'magestic ' and 'thrilling,' the Sunshine Skyway is endowed with record-breaking statistics. The box girders in the main spans and six others that comprise the 1,220-m centre unit of this 6.67-km long bridge are a record 29-m wide, weighing as much as 220t. Rising 74m above the roadway, the central pylons top out at 132m above the bay. Their piers rest on drilled shaft foundations extending nearly 30m down into the bottom of the bay. An engineering triumph, the Skyway replaces an old storm-battered bridge.