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Top 10 Famous Movable Bridges of the World

By Dhiraj Sharma · Published October 30, 2026 · Updated November 2, 2026

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Infographic of famous movable bridges of the world, showing a towered bascule bridge with raised leaves and a tall ship passing, with callouts for Tower Bridge, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Vizcaya Bridge, El Ferdan and the Rolling Bridge

Famous movable bridges of the world lift, swing, tilt or even roll up to let boats pass, from London's Tower Bridge to a tilting footbridge on the Tyne.

This Finepedia guide, written in October 2026, looks at ten bridges that move, each using a different trick to clear the way for ships. Each entry explains how the bridge opens, when it was built and one story that makes it stand out. Figures come from bridge owners, UNESCO, engineering journals and encyclopaedias. For more record-breaking crossings, see the Finepedia guides Top 10 Highest Bridges in the World and Top 10 Longest Suspension Bridge Spans in the World.

How We Chose These

We looked for bridges that are famous for the way they move, not just for their size, and we wanted every main type: bascule, tilt, swing, vertical lift, transporter and one that rolls itself into a ball. Some hold world records, such as the longest swing span and the longest lift span, while others are loved for their looks. The list mixes Victorian engineering with 21st-century design, and three of the ten are open only to people on foot or bicycle.

The 10 Famous Movable Bridges at a Glance

No.	Bridge	City	Opened	How it moves
1	Tower Bridge	London, UK	1894	bascule
2	Gateshead Millennium Bridge	Gateshead, UK	2001	tilt
3	Erasmus Bridge	Rotterdam, Netherlands	1996	bascule
4	Vizcaya Bridge	Portugalete and Getxo, Spain	1893	transporter
5	Puente de la Mujer	Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires	2001	swing
6	El Ferdan Railway Bridge	Ismailia, Egypt	2001	swing
7	Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge	New Jersey and New York, US	1959	vertical lift
8	Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas	Bordeaux	2013	vertical lift
9	Samuel Beckett Bridge	Dublin, Ireland	2009	swing
10	Rolling Bridge	London, UK	2004	rolling

1. Tower Bridge Still Opens for Ships on the Thames

Tower Bridge crosses the River Thames beside the Tower of London.^[1] The architect Horace Jones and the engineer John Wolfe Barry planned it, and it was built from 1886 to 1894 and opened on 30 June 1894. Two huge leaves, called bascules, swing upward like a seesaw on pivots, so that tall ships can reach the Pool of London.

Key Facts

Length: about 290 m, including the abutments
Towers: two, each about 65 m tall
Openings: roughly a thousand a year
Traffic: about 40,000 people cross it every day

Did You Know?

In December 1952 the bascules began to rise while a double-decker bus was on the bridge. The driver, Albert Gunter, sped up and jumped a gap of about 1 m onto the far leaf, and the bus landed safely on the other side. The high walkways, closed in 1910, reopened in 1982 and gained glass floors in 2014.

2. The Gateshead Millennium Bridge Tilts Like a Blinking Eye

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge carries people on foot and bicycle across the River Tyne, linking Gateshead's arts quarter with Newcastle's Quayside. Opened in 2001, it was the first bridge anywhere designed to tilt open. Its curved deck and supporting arch rotate together, and locals call it the Blinking Eye Bridge because of the way it moves.

Key Facts

Weight: about 850 tonnes, tilted as one piece
Clearance when open: 25 m
Opening time: about four minutes to turn through 40 degrees
Designers: WilkinsonEyre with the engineers Gifford

Why It Matters

In November 2000 the floating crane Asian Hercules II set the complete bridge on its bearings in a single lift. It won the 2002 RIBA Stirling Prize, one of Britain's top awards for architecture, and was the first opening bridge built on the Tyne for more than a century.

3. Rotterdam's Erasmus Bridge Hides a Giant Lifting Span

The Erasmus Bridge spans the Nieuwe Maas river in central Rotterdam.^[2] Its tall, pale blue pylon, bent like a neck, earned it the nickname The Swan. Most people notice only its cable-stayed main span, but at its southern end is a bascule section that lifts for ships too tall to pass beneath.

Key Facts

Total length: 802 m
Pylon height: 139 m
Bascule span: 89 m long, the biggest in Western Europe
Opened: 6 September 1996 by Queen Beatrix

Did You Know?

The bridge is named after Erasmus, the Renaissance scholar born in Rotterdam. Soon after it opened in 1996, engineers found that it swayed in very strong winds, so stronger dampers were added. It cost more than 165 million euros to build.

4. The Vizcaya Bridge Carries Cars on a Hanging Gondola

The Vizcaya Bridge spans the Nervión estuary near Bilbao, linking Portugalete with Las Arenas in Getxo.^[3] Designed by Alberto Palacio and finished in 1893, it is the oldest transporter bridge in the world. A gondola hangs from a high crossbeam and glides from bank to bank, so ships can pass beneath at any time.

Key Facts

Length: about 160 m
Height: about 45 m above the water
Gondola: carries six cars and dozens of passengers in about 90 seconds
UNESCO: World Heritage Site since 13 July 2006

Why It Matters

Palacio needed a crossing that would not block the busy port of Bilbao or need long, steep ramps. His idea, built with the French engineer Ferdinand Arnodin, was copied at river mouths around the world. Service stopped only once, for four years after the bridge was blown up during the Spanish Civil War.

5. Puente de la Mujer Turns Like a Tango Dancer

Puente de la Mujer, whose name means Woman's Bridge, is a footbridge over Dock 3 in the Puerto Madero district of Buenos Aires.^[4] Designed by Santiago Calatrava, it opened on 20 December 2001. Its middle section, held by cables from a leaning steel mast, rotates 90 degrees on a white pylon to let boats pass in under two minutes.

Key Facts

Length: 170 m
Weight: about 800 tonnes
Rotating span: 102.5 m
Mast: about 34 m high, leaning at 39 degrees

Did You Know?

Calatrava said the design shows a couple dancing the tango, with the mast as the man and the curved deck as the woman. The name comes from the streets of Puerto Madero, many of which are named after notable Argentine women.

6. The El Ferdan Railway Bridge Swings Across the Suez Canal

Near Ismailia in Egypt, the El Ferdan Railway Bridge spans the Suez Canal, and no swing bridge anywhere is longer.^[5] Each half turns on its pier to lie along the bank, opening a wide channel for the giant ships that use the canal. The present bridge was completed in 2001 after earlier crossings here were lost to war.

Key Facts

Total span: about 340 m
First bridge on the site: 1918
Contract: led by the German firm Krupp
Purpose: carrying trains between mainland Egypt and Sinai

Why It Matters

When a new parallel channel of the canal opened in 2015, trains could no longer reach Sinai over the old bridge alone. Egypt decided in 2017 to keep it and build a second swing bridge of similar design across the new eastern channel, restoring the rail link.

7. The Arthur Kill Bridge Lifts a Record Span

This rail bridge, officially named Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge, runs between Elizabethport in New Jersey and Staten Island in New York. Built in 1959 to replace an older swing bridge, it raises its whole truss span straight up between two towers, like a lift. No other vertical-lift bridge has a longer moving span.

Key Facts

Lift span: about 170 m
Towers: two, about 66 m tall
Clearance: 9.45 m when closed, 41 m when raised
Channel: about 152 m wide

Did You Know?

Freight traffic faded as factories on Staten Island closed, and no freight train crossed between 1990 and 2006. After a restoration costing about 72 million dollars, a train crossed again in October 2006, and container trains from the Howland Hook terminal followed in 2007.

8. The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas Raises Its Road for Cruise Ships

The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas crosses the Garonne in Bordeaux and opened on 16 March 2013.^[6] Its central road deck rises between four tall pylons to let cruise ships and tall sailing ships reach the city's historic quays. When it opened, no lift bridge in Europe had a longer moving deck.

Key Facts

Main bridge: 433 m long
Lifting span: 117 m long, weighing about 2,500 tonnes
Pylons: 77 m above high water
Clearance when raised: 53 m

Why It Matters

The bridge takes about 11 minutes to raise or lower and opens around 60 times a year. Pedestrians and cyclists cross on curved walkways outside the pylons, and at night the pylons are lit in colours that change with the tide, an idea of the artist Yann Kersalé.

9. Dublin's Samuel Beckett Bridge Swings Like a Harp

The Samuel Beckett Bridge crosses the River Liffey in Dublin's Docklands and was opened in December 2009. Designed by Santiago Calatrava, it is a cable-stayed bridge that can turn through 90 degrees to let ships pass. Its curved mast and fan of cables look like a harp lying on its side, a fitting shape for Ireland.

Key Facts

Named after: the writer Samuel Beckett
Cost: about 60 million euros
Cables: 31 stays from a single curved mast
Award: Engineers Ireland Engineering Project of the Year, 2010

Did You Know?

The steel span was built in the Netherlands and shipped to Dublin in 2009. The harp has been a symbol of Ireland for centuries, and it is the second Calatrava bridge on the Liffey, after the James Joyce Bridge upriver.

10. The Rolling Bridge Rolls Into an Octagon

The Rolling Bridge spans a small canal inlet at Paddington Basin in London. Designed by Heatherwick Studio and completed in 2004, it is a footbridge of steel and timber made of eight hinged sections. Instead of lifting or swinging, it rolls up until its two ends meet, forming an octagon that sits on one bank.

Key Facts

Length: about 12.9 m when flat
Sections: eight, moved by hydraulic rams in the handrails
Opening time: designed to open in about three minutes
Record: listed by Guinness World Records as the first bridge of its kind

Why It Matters

Thomas Heatherwick said his studio wanted a bridge that gets out of the way instead of breaking apart. The idea came partly from the coiling tails of animated dinosaurs. The bridge usually rolls up on set days, and the display has become a small tourist event.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a drawbridge and a bascule bridge?

A drawbridge is any bridge that can be raised, like the old castle bridges pulled up by chains. A bascule bridge is a modern type of drawbridge in which each leaf pivots and is balanced by a heavy counterweight, so it can be lifted with little power.

Which is the longest movable bridge in the world?

On the Suez Canal, El Ferdan has the record swing span, at about 340 m. For bridges that lift straight up, the record belongs to Arthur Kill in the US, with a span of about 170 m.

Conclusion

From the Victorian bascules of Tower Bridge to a footbridge that rolls into a ball, these ten bridges prove that a crossing does not have to stay still. They keep roads, railways and footpaths open while ships still pass. For more record-breaking crossings, read the Finepedia guides Top 10 Highest Bridges in the World and Top 10 Longest Suspension Bridge Spans in the World.