The incredible £2.8bn bridge linking two islands that took 10 years to build
The huge cost of this bridge is being recuperated through tolls being paid by the thousands of motorists who cross it every day.
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is a key 12,831-foot bridge linking two islands in Japan.
This suspension bridge, which took 10 years to be completed and involved more than 100 contractors, crosses the Akashi Strait.
One of its starting points is Kobe which, located on Honshu island, is the third-largest port city in the country after Tokyo and Yokohama.
Through the bridge, also known as Pearl Bridge, travellers in this city can reach Iwaya, an area located on the small Awaji island part of the Seto Inland Sea.
Started in 1988, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge held the record for longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world for several years.
The central span of the Japanese bridge, measuring 6,532 feet, became the world's second longest after the official launch of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in central Turkey in March 2022 - the main span of which 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.
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This huge cost is being repaid through toll fees forked out by the thousands of drivers crossing the bridge every day. The current toll is ¥2,300 (£11.95).
People without cars can still access the bridge - albeit in a very different way.
The Maiko Marine Promenade is a 1,040-foot-long circuit-style promenade built on the Kobe side of the bridge, and it overlooks the Akashi Strait.
Accessed by elevator from the base of the bridge, this special promenade offers a unique view of the bridge's interior as well as of the surroundings, 164 feet above the water.
The bridge is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, one of three expressways connecting the islands of Honshu and Shikoku.
