A new type of suspension bridge is proposed based on the gravity stiffness principle.Compared with a conventional suspension bridge,the proposed bridge adds rigid webs and cross braces.The rigid webs connect the main cable and main girder to form a truss that can improve the bending stiffness of the bridge.The cross braces connect the main cables to form a closed space truss structure that can improve the torsional stiffness of the bridge.The rigid webs and cross braces are installed after the construction of a conventional suspension bridge is completed to resist different loads with different structural forms.A new type of railway suspension bridge with a span of 340 m and a highway suspension bridge with a span of 1020 m were designed and analysed using the finite element method.The stress,deflection of the girders,unbalanced forces of the main towers,and natural frequencies were compared with those of conventional suspension bridges.A stiffness test was carried out on the new type of suspension bridge with a small span,and the results were compared with those for a conventional bridge.The results showed that the new suspension bridge had a better performance than the conventional suspension bridge.