Yeongdo Bridge, Bascule bridge in Jung District, Busan, South Korea

Yeongdo Bridge is a steel bascule bridge over Busan South Port, linking the mainland Jung District to Yeongdo Island. One section of the bridge lifts to let larger vessels pass through the channel below.

The bridge was built in 1934 during the Japanese colonial period and was the first bascule bridge in Korea to have a working lift mechanism. The mechanism was shut down in 1966 and stayed out of service for nearly 47 years before being restored.

The bridge's name changed from Busan Bridge to Yeongdo Bridge in 1980, when a new Busan Bridge opened alongside. Near the bridge stand a monument to the bascule bridge and a song monument to Hyeon In, whose 1951 song "Gutseora Geumsuna" is associated with wartime refugees. The bridge appears in the 2001 film Friend.

The lift mechanism operates once a day in the early afternoon for a short time, so arriving a few minutes before helps you find a good spot along the waterfront. The bridge is easy to reach on foot from both sides of the channel, as it sits in a busy port area.

The bridge is Korea's only surviving single-leaf bascule bridge, and its lifting machinery sits in the quay wall rather than on the span itself, an arrangement rare among drawbridges. Its granite abutments are laid in regular courses with rectangular corner stones, and granite stairs flank them.