Humber Bridge July 1981. With a centre span of and a total length of , the Humber Bridge was the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world for 17 years, until Japan's Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opened on 5 April 1998. The road-distance between Hull and Grimsby was reduced by nearly as a consequence of the bridge. The bridge's surface takes the form of a dual carriageway with a lower-level foot and cyclepath on both sides. There is a permanent speed limit on the full length of the bridge. Each tower consists of a pair of hollow vertical concrete columns, each tall and
Simple suspension bridge one at Chuka. Another example, the Luding Bridge, dates from 1703, spanning 100 m using 11 iron chains. Development of wire cable suspension bridges dates to the temporary simple suspension bridge at Annonay built by Marc Seguin and his brothers in 1822. It spanned only 18 m. However, simple suspension bridge designs were made largely obsolete by the 19th century invention and patent of the suspended deck bridge by James Finley. A late 18th century English painting of a bridge in Srinagar, then part of the Garhwal Kingdom, anticipates the invention of the suspended deck bridge. This unusual bridge, built