The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is a key 12,831-foot bridge linking two islands in Japan across the Akashi Strait. This suspension bridge, also known as Pearl Bridge, took a decade to build and involved more than 100 contractors.
At one end is Kobe, located on Honshu island, which stands as the third-largest port city in the country after Tokyo and Yokohama. At the other is Iwaya, an area located on the small Awaji island, part of the Seto Inland Sea. For an impressive period of time, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge held the record for the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world.
The record held by the central span – measuring 6,532 feet – was eclipsed in 2022 after the official launch of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in central Turkey. Its main span measures 6,636 feet.
The height of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge’s pylons is 928 feet, while its clearance below is 215.6 feet.
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge came at an estimated total cost of ¥500 billion (£2.8bn per 1998 exchange rate), according to a report published on the US Department of Transportation’s website months after it was launched.
While this figure may seem extreme, it is being repaid thanks to the toll forked out by the thousands of drivers crossing the bridge each day. The current toll is ¥2,300 (£11.95).
The bridge forms part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, one of three expressways connecting the islands of Honshu and Shikoku.
Before the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge was built, ferries carried passengers across the Akashi Strait. A major passageway for shipping, it is renowned for its gales, heavy rain, storms and other natural disasters.
In December 1945, the Sekirei Maru sinking in stormy weather killed 304 people. The ship was carrying more than three times its capacity of 100 passengers and sparked national outrage. The accident first stirred public discussion on the possibility of a bridge over the span.
Two more ferries sinkings occurred 10 years later, before the Japanese government was finally convinced to develop plans for a bridge to cross the strait.
