From a 32-foot bamboo bridge in China that can support at least 8 tons, to the rolling pedestrian bridge in London which we featured a few years ago in Bridges magazine, it's clear that engineers and architects around the world are continuing to push beyond, and even perfect, utilitarian bridge-building.

Included on this list of 18 are two newer U.S. bridges: the Neal Bridge in Maine, which is the first to use "bridge-in-a-backpack" technology; and the Sundial Bridge in California, which boasts a dual-purpose support tower.