China competes in records: inaugurates in September the highest bridge in the world, Huajiang Grand Canyon, Overtying Beipanjiang
China is preparing to inaugurate this month the highest bridge in the world, surpassing its own record with a new construction of 625 meters high-the equivalent of almost two Eiffel towers.
The bridge will be open to road traffic by the end of September 2025. Photo: x/@pdchina
The Huajiang Grand Canyon bridge, located in the Guizhou province of the southwest of the country, covers a length of 2,889 meters and crosses a spectacular gap, called locally “The crack of the earth”, reports The Washington Post.
The construction, started in 2022, recently went through a five-day resistance test and will be open to road traffic until the end of September 2025.
The bridge will reduce the crossing time of the Beipan river, between the Guanling and Zhenfeng counties (totaling about 600,000 inhabitants), from two hours to two minutes.
Tourist attraction – 213 -meter transparent lift
The project has not only a utilitarian, but also tourist role. The bridge includes a 213 -meter transparent lift, which leads visitors to an observation tower, as well as a pedestrian walkway, almost a kilometer long. Chinese authorities expect it to become a major attraction for tourists.
Symbol of Chinese ambitions
The Chinese state press presented the bridge as a “Chinese miracle”, proof of “Guizhou speed and wisdom.” Dan Wang, a researcher at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, explained to The Washington Post that the Communist Party sees in these mega-projects a way to stimulate the economy and to strengthen its political prestige.
“Unlike the US, which already has a very developed road system, many regions of western China remain poorly connected. What we do is cover these goals and work on the weakest links,” said Li Mingshui, professor of civil engineering at Jiaotong University in Chengdu.
The pride of the engineers
The chief engineer of the project, Liu Hao, who previously supervised the construction of six other huge bridges in Guizhou, said he feels privileged to be part of “The golden age of the expansion of the China infrastructure”. “When the Huajiang Canyon Bridge will be open to traffic, I will definitely bring my daughter here to see and I will proudly say:” This is another mega-project that your father and many other people have made together “, he told Xinhua Agency.
Prior to this new bridge, Beipanjiang was the highest bridge in the world, built in just three years, with 1,000 workers. According to the quoted source, the bridge rising 565 meters above the Nizhu river connects the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou in the south of the country.
