a record-breaking crossing in Taiwan

At the mouth of Taiwan’s Tamsui River, Zaha Hadid Architects’ Danjiang Bridge now stretches between New Taipei City’s districts of Tamsui and Bali. The bridge has opened as the world’s longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, bringing a new line of movement across one of the region’s most visible estuary landscapes.

The project is worth watching for its scale, but also for the way that scale has been handled. Commissioned as part of a wider infrastructure upgrade for northern Taiwan, it is expected to cut roughly twenty-five minutes from commuters’ cross-river journeys while easing pressure on the Guandu Bridge, located further upstream.

all images © Northern Region New Construction Branch Office, Highway Bureau, MOTC Taiwan

zaha hadid architects lifts the bridge from one mast

Taiwan’s Danjiang Bridge runs across a 920-meter-long span, held by a single concrete mast which Zaha Hadid Architects designs to rise 200 meters above the estuary. Its main span reaches 450 meters, with a 71-meter-wide deck carrying motor traffic, pedestrian paths, cycle routes, and space for the future extension of the Danhai Light Rail network.

That single-mast structure gives the bridge its distinctive silhouette. Instead of placing a sequence of supports through the riverbed, the architects gather the load into one vertical figure and a fan of cables, reducing disruption to the estuary below.

From the shore, the mast reads almost like a marker in the landscape, tall and slim enough to leave much of the horizon open. This was central to the original design approach, which used detailed modeling and mapping to protect views of the Tamsui River’s well-known sunsets.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ Danjiang Bridge crosses the mouth of Taiwan’s Tamsui River

built to survive magnitude 7 earthquake

The bridge also has to deal with Taiwan’s seismic conditions. Its support system is designed for earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above, using pier supports, cable stays, hydraulic dampers, friction pendulum bearings, and synthetic rubber pads to manage vertical and horizontal forces. The engineering is doing a lot of work beneath the clean profile.

Construction began in 2019, years after Zaha Hadid Architects won the international competition in 2015 with Sinotech Engineering Consultants and Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner. The final section of steel decking was installed in 2025, joining the east and west banks of the estuary for the first time. Its opening in May 2026 brings a long-running piece of transport planning into public use.

the 920 meter (3,018 foot) bridge is now the world’s longest single mast cable stayed bridge

infrastructure with a public edge

Zaha Hadid Architects’ Danjiang Bridge moves cars, buses, cyclists, pedestrians, and eventually light rail. Even so, its most memorable element is its structure, with a single mast held against open water and a dramatic array of fanning cables stretching across the sky.

For Zaha Hadid Architects, the project adds another large-scale infrastructure work to a portfolio better known for fluid cultural buildings and urban gestures. Here, that language is tied to traffic, estuary ecology, seismic engineering, and a view that already mattered to the city. The impact comes from the scenic backdrop itself, and the team sought to honor that site. While ultimately a bridge had to cross the river, this one tries to do it with as few marks as possible.

a single 200 meter (656 foot) concrete mast supports the asymmetric cable stayed structure

its 450 meter (1,476 foot) main span reduces the need for supports in the riverbed