Copyright © Gateway Structure Sdn Bhd (199401025111). All Right Reserved.
Menu
Quick summary: Southeast Asia’s longest sea bridges — led by Brunei’s 26.3 km SOAS Bridge and Malaysia’s 24 km Second Penang Bridge — showcase advanced marine engineering built to withstand waves, tides, and corrosive coastal conditions. This guide ranks the region’s top 10, with lengths, key facts, and the ground-engineering work behind them.
Southeast Asia features several long sea bridges that enhance regional connectivity and support economic growth across coastal and island areas. Notable examples include Malaysia’s Penang Second Bridge (Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge) and other major marine infrastructure projects in the region. These bridges demonstrate advanced civil engineering techniques designed to withstand challenging marine environments such as strong waves, tides, and corrosive conditions.
Successful construction requires careful planning of foundation systems, seabed stabilisation, structural durability, and environmental considerations. As a result, long sea bridges in Southeast Asia highlight the region’s progress in large-scale infrastructure and marine engineering innovation.
Southeast Asia has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. As such, the infrastructure in these countries has to keep up with the country’s development to increase competitiveness.
Over the years, many bridges have been built in Southeast Asia. In this article, we will discuss the top ten longest bridges in Southeast Asia. Read on to find out.
The Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Bridge opened to the public on March 17, 2020. This bridge spans 26.3 kilometres across Brunei Bay and connects the Temburong district to Bandar Seri Begawan.
Thanks to the bridge, those who live in the surrounding areas will be able to reach the nation’s capital in less than thirty minutes.
Before the bridge opened, people coming from Temburong needed to either take a boat ride across the bay (around 45 minutes) or drive for two hours through Sarawak’s Limbang and four border crossings in order to get to the capital.
The Second Penang Bridge is a bridge that spans a distance of 24 kilometres (14.9 miles) and connects Penang Island to the Malaysian Peninsula. It is also known as the Second Penang Bridge. It is the 20th century’s most significant civil engineering endeavour in this part of the world.
The project consists of building a 475-meter cast-in-situ cable-stayed bridge and 55-meter (180-foot) span precast segmental concrete marine viaduct modules (1,558 feet).
The Second Penang Bridge is vulnerable to the destructive forces of nature, including earthquakes, the possibility of tsunamis, and wind. It is also exposed to an unfriendly sea environment.
Due to the meticulous planning and design that went into this endeavour, it is now considered one of the most successful sea crossing projects in recent history.
Gateway Structure Sdn Bhd (GSSB) is pleased to have contributed to the construction of the Second Penang Bridge in terms of PVD and geotextile, including vertical drains and PVD installation.
The Penang Bridge, which spans 13.5 kilometres (8.4 miles) in Malaysia’s state of Penang, is a toll bridge and controlled-access road. It spans 13.5 kilometres (8.4 miles).
The bridge extends across the Selatan Strait and links the city of Butterworth on the mainland to the town of Gelugor on the island. The bridge, which was opened for traffic on September 14, 1985, is the first traffic link that connects the peninsula and the island.
The bridge has a total length of 8.4 kilometres, making it the second-longest bridge in Malaysia and the fifth-longest bridge in Southeast Asia when measured by overall length (5.2 miles).
The Bhumibol Bridge, which also goes by the name “Industrial Ring Road Bridge,” is a section of the Industrial Ring Road that connects southern Bangkok with Samut Prakan Province. The entire length of the Industrial Ring Road is 13 kilometres.
It is a royal effort that was initiated by King Bhumibol Adulyadej to reduce the amount of traffic congestion in Bangkok and its surrounding areas, particularly in the industrial sector surrounding Khlong Toei Port in southern Bangkok and Samut Prakan Province.
Two extraordinary cable-stayed spans of 702 and 582 metres, respectively, are supported by two diamond-shaped pylons that are 173 and 164 metres in height on either side of the bridge. The bridge crosses the Chao Phraya River twice.
At a free-flowing junction that is suspended 50 metres above the ground, another road rises to connect the two bridges.
The Bali Mandara Toll Road was not only the first floating toll road in Indonesia, but it was also the first toll road on the island of Bali.
The highway, which is 12.7 kilometres above sea level and has been dubbed the most beautiful highway in the world, is unique because it is the only toll road that features bike lanes on both sides of the road. It has also been dubbed the longest highway in the world.
The toll road’s construction started in March 2012 and lasted until May 2013. A few words are all that are necessary to adequately describe the building of a toll road across the ocean.
Due to the fact that the majority of the tolls are hung over the water, not much land should be released.
The Bali Mandara Toll Road connects Benoa, Ngurah Rai, Tuban, and Nusa Dua.
To put things into perspective, the length of the San Juanico Bridge is 2.1 kilometres, and it has held the title of longest bridge in the Philippines since 1973.
The length of the Cebu-Cordova bridge, which is sometimes referred to as the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway or CCLEX, is 8.9 kilometres, making it significantly longer than the San Juanico Bridge.
The Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC), a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways (MPTC), granted the contract for this project in 2017.
It entails the design and construction of a 650-meter cable-stayed bridge as the main structure, with a main span of 390 metres between pylons situated over the entrance to the Port of Cebu.
The bridge includes a number of viaducts as well as a highway segment that is situated atop an embankment that is 5.2 kilometres in length.
Thanlwin Bridge (a.k.a. Mawlamyine), is located in Mon State in Myanmar’s south. It goes through the confluences of three different rivers. The names of the three rivers are the Thanlyin River, the Gyaing River, and the Attayan River.
It provides both a road and a rail connection between Mawlamyine City and Moke Ta Ma City. As a result of this development, transportation in southern Myanmar has improved, along with the social and economic conditions.
The overall length of the bridge is 4.1 miles (6.6 kilometres), with the main bridge measuring 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) and the length over water at 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometres) (2.1 km). After beginning construction on March 18, 2000, the bridge did not officially open until February 5, 2005.
The Pakokku Bridge is a road-and-rail bridge crossing the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River near Bagan, and it’s the longest bridge in Myanmar. It connects to a route linking India and Thailand through Mandalay as part of the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway.
The main bridge structure spans 3.4 kilometres (2.1 miles), with the connecting motorway extending the total crossing to about 4 kilometres and the railway section reaching roughly 6.2 kilometres. The bridge features a broad crested design with a clearance area measuring 262 feet wide and 52 feet high.
Located in the northern port city of Hai Phong, the Đình Vũ – Cát Hải Bridge is a sea bridge spanning over 5.44 kilometres, making it one of the longest sea bridges in Southeast Asia.
The bridge forms part of the larger Tân Vũ – Lạch Huyện Highway, which has a total corridor length of 15.63 kilometres, starting at the intersection with the Hà Nội – Hải Phòng Expressway and ending at the gate of Lạch Huyện Port.
The highway is expected to shorten travel times and reduce the risks associated with ferry and barge transport, while stimulating economic development in Hai Phong’s coastal areas, attracting investment to the Đình Vũ – Cát Hải Economic Zone, and supporting tourism in the UNESCO-recognized Cát Bà Biosphere Reserve.
Java Island, near Surabaya, is linked to Madura Island across the Madura Strait by the Suramadu National Bridge. It has a total length of 5,438 metres (5.4 km), making it the longest bridge in Indonesia and the first bridge to cross the Madura Strait.
The Suramadu Bridge has three parts: the causeway, the approach bridge, and the main bridge. The causeway links the bridge construction by road on both sides of the shallow strait, while the main cable-stayed bridge is composed of three sections — two side spans measuring 192 metres each, and a main span of 434 metres. It was also the first toll bridge in Indonesia, though tolls were fully removed in 2018.
The top ten longest bridges in Southeast Asia listed above are the result of the concerted efforts of engineers, architects, contractors, the government, construction companies, construction workers, logistics companies, and others.
Gateway Structure Sdn Bhd (GSSB), an established prefabricated vertical drain contractor in Malaysia, is grateful to have been involved in the Second Penang Bridge project by providing our expertise in PVD and geotextile, including PVD installation, vertical drains, and more.
The Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Bridge in Brunei is the longest, spanning 26.3 kilometres across Brunei Bay and connecting the Temburong district to Bandar Seri Begawan.
The Second Penang Bridge (Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge) is Malaysia’s longest at 24 kilometres, connecting Penang Island to the Malaysian Peninsula. The original Penang Bridge, at 13.5 kilometres, is Malaysia’s second-longest.
Sea bridges must be engineered to withstand marine environments — strong waves, tides, corrosive saltwater exposure, and in some regions, seismic activity. This requires careful foundation design, seabed stabilisation (including ground improvement techniques like PVD installation on projects such as the Second Penang Bridge), and durable, corrosion-resistant materials.
Copyright © Gateway Structure Sdn Bhd (199401025111). All Right Reserved.