List of bridges in the United States by height

This is a list of the highest bridges in the United States by height over land or water. Height in this list refers to the distance from the bridge deck to the lowest point on the land, or the water surface, directly below. A bridge's deck height is greater than its clearance below, which is measured from the bottom of the deck structure, with the difference being equal to the thickness of the deck structure at the point with the greatest clearance below. Official figures for a bridge's height are often provided only for the clearance below, so those figures may be used instead of actual deck height measurements. For bridges that span tidal water, the clearance below is measured at the average high water level.

Royal Gorge Bridge, highest bridge in the United States

The minimum height for inclusion in this list is 130 ft (40 m), which may be either the deck height or the clearance below depending on available references. Note that the following types of bridges are not included in this list: demolished high bridges; historic high bridges such as those over reservoirs—regardless of current reservoir levels—that were filled after the bridge was complete, unless the dam has since been removed; and vertical-lift bridges, even those with raised span heights greater than this list's minimum height.

The clearance below required under bridges for the largest ships—container ships, ocean liners and cruise ships—is around 220 feet (67 m) so there are often bridges with approximately that height located in coastal cities with bays or inlets, such as New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.[1]