A bridge to nowhere is a bridge where one or both ends are broken, incomplete, or unconnected to any roads. If it is an overpass or an interchange, the term overpass to nowhere or interchange to nowhere may be used respectively.

Origins There are five main origins for these bridges: The bridge was never completed for reasons such as cost or disputed property rights. One or both of the bridge's ends have collapsed or have been destroyed, for example, by earthquake, storm, flood, landslide, or war. The bridge is no longer used, but was not demolished because of the cost; for example, the bridges on an abandoned railway line. The bridge is completed, but the streets connecting the bridge are not completed. The bridge or any other part of the construction can be regarded as a pork barrel project aimed at useless fund spending or money laundering with minor or negligible public usefulness.

Metaphoric use The term "bridge to nowhere" may be used by political opponents to describe a bridge (or proposed bridge) that serves low-population areas at high cost, usually characterizing it as an instance of pork barrel spending.

By extension, it may refer to any undertaking perceived as both pointless and costly.

Incomplete and damaged bridges Argentina The two-lane elevated concrete vehicle bridge across the Cosquin River in Cosquin, province of Cordoba, Argentina, that was intended to connect Calle Pedro Ortiz, to the west, to Avenida Capitan Aviador Omar Castillo, to the east, was never opened. The span of the bridge itself was complete, but it was never connected to the road system on either end, and the ends of the span remained blocked by steep piles of rubble. In lieu of the elevated vehicle bridge, the small, low Onofre Marimon Bridge connected the two streets for small volumes of pedestrian traffic. In 2020 it was finally connected at both ends and open to vehicle traffic, and the lower bridge was demolished. The remains of the bridge can still be seen at Puente Mercedes Sosa.

Belgium Rue Emile Pathé/Emile Pathéstraat in Forest, Brussels (), was originally intended to be part of the southern arc of the R0 Brussels motorway ring, which was never built owing to opposition from local residents. It now functions mostly as a car park. In Perwez, a bridge originally destinated to the bypass of the city is now abandoned in the middle of the fields ().

Bulgaria Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia has a highspeed city bypass called Northern Speed Tangent, which upon completion had three bridges with two clover-style interchanges. These three bridges were built with the intention to connect the north neighbourhoods of Sofia, however since 2016, when the high speed bypass was built, they have not been connected to the city and are currently bridges to nowhere. Plans are being developed for finally connecting the bridges to the city proper, but due to constant changes and disputes between the local government and road agencies, these plans are frozen.

Canada Port Nelson Bridge, an isolated rail bridge near Port Nelson, Manitoba. The connecting rail line was never finished due to labour and material shortages, a lack of financial or political support, and high cost. The envisioned port was also poorly designed and was found to require excessive dredging due to significant sand bars. The project was greatly criticized by several politicians (the media calling it a "gigantic blunder"). Ontario Highway 69 south of Ontario Highway 522 near Grundy Provincial Park. The two bridges are for the southbound and northbound lanes of the future Ontario Highway 400 connecting Greater Sudbury and Toronto. Gaglardi Way in Burnaby, British Columbia: originally ended suddenly as an overpass of Highway 1 at the south end at just a forest, due to a residential subdivision further south, blocking its continuation. The overpass was originally designed as a Cloverleaf interchange, but as the road is not continued, both its northeastern and southeastern cloverleaf ramps were blocked off. Eventually, the dead-end stump and the two blocked off ramps were removed beginning in the late 2000s, and completely removed at mid 2013.

China Yalu River Broken Bridge in Dandong. The south span was destroyed during the Korean War. Nandu River Iron Bridge in Hainan is a partially collapsed, steel truss bridge over the Nandu River. It was built by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In October 2000, flooding caused the collapse of the western part of the bridge, leaving three trusses.

Czech Republic The Borovsko Bridge, an unfinished motorway bridge from the 1930s near Borovsko, part of Bernartice municipality, Central Bohemian Region. There are several bridges to nowhere, started to be built as a part of extraterritorial highway Vienna-Wrocław (so-called "Hitler's highway"), which remain unfinished and unconnected to the road network.

France

Pont Saint-Bénézet in Avignon over the Rhône river. Several arches were broken by flood in the middle of the 17th century. The viaduc du Caramel and viaduc du Carei of the former tramway line from Menton to Sospel. The jetée from the Grande Arche de La Défense to the U Arena in Nanterre. Its final stairs are not to be completed.

Germany

The colloquial name for a bridge to nowhere in Germany is "Soda-Brücke" (a pun on "so da" = "just there"). Many of the bridges were built in the 1970s as part of the Autobahn network, but the oil crisis and rising environmental consciousness slowed many highway extensions.

The Bundesautobahn 66 had a bridge near Ahl (Bad Soden-Salmünster) built in 1966 that was not connected until 1994. The bridge near Euskirchen was planned to be part of Autobahn 56. Construction was stopped, and the existing parts of the highway were renamed Bundesautobahn 562. () The bridge near Merklinde, a suburb of Castrop-Rauxel, was to be part of the B245 expressway and the "New Hellweg". The bridge was completed in 1978 but was never connected. () The Schänzlebrücke in Konstanz was built 1975 but not connected until 2007. ()

Honduras The Bridge of Rising Sun in Choluteca, completed in 1998, became a bridge to nowhere the same year when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras. While the bridge itself survived with minor damage, the roads on either end got entirely washed away and the Choluteca River had carved itself a new channel on the side, leaving the bridge to span dry ground. It eventually got reconnected to the highway in 2003.

Hong Kong In New Kowloon, a flyover used to connect Prince Edward Road East outside Regal Meridien Hotel to the old Kai Tak Airport (coded K72). The airport has since moved and been demolished, leaving the flyover unused, until a new offramp was built in 2020 to connect the K72 flyover to (Road D1) and opened to traffic in September 2021. In Victoria City on Hong Kong Island, the western end of Connaught Road West Flyover (part of Route 4) was intended to be connected to the shelved Green Island Link and a trunk road along the southwestern coast of the island (previously numbered Route 7). A flyover over Tsing Tsuen Interchange in Tsuen Wan, New Territories. Railway viaducts to the northwest of Lai King station in southern Kwai Chung, New Territories, near Kwai Chung Park.

Hungary

A former railway bridge sits over the Váci út in Budapest. Its rail line was disconnected in the early 1990s, and the east side of the bridge was demolished to make room for new construction. () A second bridge sits over a minor road on the same rail line to the southwest, and the former station is now a parking lot.

India Broken bridge, in Chennai, South India, partly collapsed due to strong currents of the river in 1977 and has never been repaired.

Indonesia An unused double-track concrete railway bridge over Ngaglik street in Surabaya. It was originally built for a proposed railway line that would connect Gubeng and Pasar Turi station on an elevated line. Due to economic crisis in the 1930s, which was followed by the Second World War, and lastly the Indonesian National Revolution, the project was never completed; the bridge stood as testimony of the forgotten project. ()

Also, on Solo-Kertosono Toll Road, Donohudan 1 bridge between Adi Sumarmo Airport Toll Gate & Ngemplak Toll Gate. To be exact, at Km 501+300, is a bridge to nowhere, the purpose is unknown. ()

Gajahwong II bridge in Yogyakarta was built in the new order as an alternative road from the downtown straight to Adisutjipto airport but the construction stalled after the end of new order with the east side unconnected to any road. Now the bridge is used by the locals to dry clothes, hanging out, fishing, etc. ()

Italy The Pons Aemilius in Rome.

Latvia An isolated railway bridge in Tukums municipality over Abava river which was built for a planned railroad line Tukums-Kuldīga which was never finished due to the Second World War. ()

Nepal The Bridge to Nowhere, being built, is an incomplete road bridge over the Daroudi River in Gorkha Municipality, meant to connect Nareshwor, Gorkha Municipality - 3 and Jarebar, Siranchowk Rural Municipality - 5.

New Zealand The Bridge to Nowhere, built in 1936, is an isolated road bridge over the Mangapurua Stream in Whanganui National Park, North Island. There is a bridge crossing over the Northwestern Motorway at Westgate,the bridge carries 2 lanes of Northside Drive, the bridge supports remain, but the entire bridge is expected to be completed by 2046.

Norway Eintveit Bridge, a -long two-lane road bridge in Etne Municipality in Vestland county, was completed in 1962 and was intended to be part of a road on the northwestern side of Åkrafjorden. But the road was never built, and the bridge has remained unused except occasionally by hikers. In 2014, broadcaster NRK organized the "opening" of the bridge. Two cars were flown in by helicopter and driven across the bridge.NRK: Ei 52 år forseinka bruopning (3 February 2014, retrieved 19 August 2014)NRK: – Dette var ein vill reportasjeidé (7 February 2014, retrieved 19 August 2014)

Philippines The Loboc Bridge in the town of Loboc, Bohol. A steel and concrete bridge which commenced construction in the 1970s but was left unfinished allegedly due to opposition from the Loboc parishioners since the bridge might destroy the 400-year old Loboc Church.

Poland

Several structures on unfinished Olimpijka motorway. Its construction started in 1976 with the propaganda goal of completing it in time for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 (hence its unofficial name, as part of Berlin-Moscow connection). Because of the economic crisis which hit the country in the late 1970s and continued throughout the 1980s, only a small section was opened. Construction of another stretch resumed only in 2001, as a part of A2 motorway. Since 2010 the plan was to finish the whole link between the border with Germany and Warsaw, this time for the UEFA Euro 2012 football championships. This meant that weathered remains of 1970s structures had to be demolished in the 2010s. Several structures on unfinished Berlinka, Nazi Germany's Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg started in 1936. Some of them have been demolished as late as the 2010s.

Romania