China Opens World’s Tallest Bridge

Guizhou province, China —(Map)

China already held the record for the world’s tallest bridge. Now it has beaten its own record with an even higher bridge – one which crosses 2,051 feet (625 meters) above the Beipan River in Guizhou province. The bridge is expected to make travel much faster, and to bring tourists to the area.

Guizhou province is known for its rough landscape, with mountains, deep river valleys, tall rock towers, and steep sinkholes. The scenery is striking, but it makes traveling around the area difficult.

The Huajiang Grand Canyon is one of the things that makes traveling in Guizhou so hard. The canyon is so deep and long that it is sometimes called the “Earth’s Crack”.

On September 28, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, stretching out across the “Earth’s Crack”, was officially opened. The new bridge is a suspension bridge, which means that its middle section hangs between its two supports without any other supports underneath. It’s held up by cables hanging from towers.

That central section is nearly a mile long (.87 miles or 1.42 kilometers). And the entire bridge is 1.8 miles (2.89 kilometers) long.

The bridge took three years to build and cost roughly $295 million. Because of the height and the location of the bridge, many special steps had to be taken to make sure it would be safe. For its final safety testing in August, over 400 sensors were placed in locations all over the bridge. Then 96 trucks were driven on the bridge to create conditions similar to normal traffic.

The bridge took three years to build and cost roughly $295 million. Because of the height and the location of the bridge, many special steps had to be taken to make sure it would be safe. Above, an image showing work on the bridge’s main cables in 2024.

The bridge is now part of the Guizhou S57 highway. Before the bridge was built, people driving between the two sides had to take long, winding roads through the mountains. The trip took 70 minutes or more. Now, driving across the bridge takes just a little more than a minute.

But the bridge’s builders are actually hoping to slow some of that traffic down. They want to turn the bridge into a place for tourists to go.

As one of the workers on the bridge says, “The view from the bridge is fantastic.” There is a special glass walkway which allows visitors to look down at the river deep in the valley below.

One of the bridge’s workers says, “The view from the bridge is fantastic.” And if the height of the bridge isn’t enough for some tourists, they can take a glass elevator to visit a special glass-walled cafe high up in one of the towers (above). The cafe sits half a mile (800 meters) up in the air.

And if the height of the bridge isn’t enough for some tourists, they can take a glass elevator to visit a special glass-walled cafe (restaurant) high up in one of the towers. The cafe sits half a mile (800 meters) up in the air.

For people who want an even bigger thrill, the bridge also offers bungee jumping – the opportunity to jump off the bridge securely attached to a strong, stretchy bungee cord.

China has been putting a lot of effort into improving transportation across Guizhou’s rugged landscape. In the 1980s, the province had less than 3,000 bridges. It now has over 32,000 of them, including almost half of the world’s 100 tallest bridges.