In the history of bridge engineering, demand has always been the primary driving force for development. Driven by the huge demand for construction since China's reform and opening-up, Chinese bridge has leapt forward both quantitatively and qualitatively in three major stages, by completing the transition from 'follower' to 'competitor,' and finally to 'leader.' A new future is emerging for Chinese bridge engineering. As an important part of China's transportation infrastructure, the bridge engineering industry is facing challenges in this new era on how to support the construction of a new form of transportation. This paper provides a summary of the status of bridge technology in China, based on a basic analysis of stock demand, incremental demand, and management demand. It is our belief that the Chinese bridge engineering industry must fulfill three outstanding requirements: construction efficiency, management effectiveness, and long-term service. Intelligent technology based on information technology provides a new opportunity for innovation in bridge engineering. As a result, the development path of bridge engineering needs to be changed. This paper puts forward the idea of developing a third-generation bridge project that is characterized by intelligence, and discusses this project's implications, development focus, and plan. In this way, this work provides a direction for the improvement of the core competitiveness of China's bridge engineering industry.