Footage has emerged offering a bird’s eye view of a Chinese bridge that is set to become the highest in the world.
The Huajing Grand Canyon Bridge in southwestern Guizhou province will rise 625 meters (2,050 feet) above the Beipan River, twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.
Anyone who wants to cross the 2,890-meter-long canyon valley can shorten their travel time by over an hour to just one minute. According to the state-run China Global Television Network, the government hopes to boost tourism and “revitalize rural areas.”
The aerial camera captures a crane-mounted bridge tower, whose steel main cables lead to another, apparently completed tower.
Workers can be seen on one of the two edge beams that run lengthwise along the side deck of the bridge. The rugged landscape of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau can be seen in the background.
China has undertaken many ambitious infrastructure projects, and bridges are no exception. According to Highestbridges.com, a website run by tech enthusiasts, 18 of the 20 highest bridges in the world are in China.
The project began in 2021 and work on the final tower was scheduled to be completed in October 2023 after more than 670 days, state media previously reported.
The suspension bridge is scheduled to be completed next year, Xinhua said. Newsweek has written to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and asked for a statement.
Alimak, a Stockholm-based company that supplied the equipment for the construction, had previously said the project had encountered “particular challenges”. “The location on a plateau amplifies the atmospheric temperature differences between day and night, which can lead to strong convective weather and constant valley winds all year round,” a company spokesman said.
Alimak did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
The current highest bridge in the world in terms of deck height is the Duge Bridge, completed in 2016. It stretches 4,396 feet from Guizhou across the Beipan River into neighboring Yunnan Province. The four-lane cable-stayed bridge has a deck height of 1,854 feet and a main span of 2,360 feet.
Another suspension bridge, the Yongchang-Lancanjiang Bridge over the Lancangjiang River in Yunnan Province, is planned to have a slightly lower height of 2,001 feet. The project is scheduled for completion in 2027.
Guizhou is one of the most sparsely populated provinces in China and, with 38.5 million inhabitants, has a lower population density than the greater Shanghai area.
The province is rich in natural resources. Forestry and mining are important to the local economy. The province is also known for its natural beauty and is an important destination for mountain tourism.
