Abstract A finite segment model is developed to calculate the shear lag effects for box girders with varying depth. Multiple longitudinal displacement functions are used to derive the stiffness matrix and the nodal force vector of the segment element. The shear deformation of the web is taken into consideration. A Perspex glass model of a three-span continuous box girder with varying depth is tested to provide experimental results for verifying the accuracy of the proposed method. The influences of the flange width to span ratio and girder–height ratio upon the shear lag are presented and discussed.