A bridge is a useful tool that can connect distant points separated by water, marshland or difficult terrain. Whether traveled on foot or by car or rail, bridges are as essential for transporting goods and services as they are for cutting down the travel time between two distant points.

But bridges represent something else, too. Something far more difficult to quantify. Something perhaps best described as a feeling – the type of emotion just as likely to arise when viewing a famous of work of art. This sense of awe and beauty draws people to bridges not only for their utilitarian function, but as iconic points worth admiring in their surrounding landscapes. Think of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, with its Art Deco towers rising out of the mist like cathedral spires. Or the majestic Tower Bridge that spans the river Thames in London.

Whether as part of one’s daily commute or as a vital artery that keeps an economy moving, these bridges have something else in common: their incredible length. A testament to human ingenuity, here are 10 of the longest bridges in the world, connecting lives — and breaking records while doing it.

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