Which Japanese bridge, completed in 1998, has the world’s longest central span among suspension bridges?

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge has the world’s longest central span among suspension bridges.

Completed in 1998, it crosses the Akashi Strait between Kobe on Honshu and Awaji Island in Japan. Its central span measures 1,991 metres, although the original design was slightly shorter before the 1995 Kobe earthquake shifted the towers.

The bridge carries the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway and forms part of a wider transport route linking Honshu with Shikoku. It replaced ferry connections that were vulnerable to severe weather, including the 1955 ferry disaster in the strait.

The bridge is sometimes called the Pearl Bridge, but Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is its official English name. Its record concerns the distance between the main towers, not the bridge’s total length; several other bridges are longer overall.