The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, the world’s tallest bridge, officially opened to traffic on Sunday morning in Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Xinhua news agency reported.
After three years of construction, the colossal structure has reduced travel time across the deep canyon from two hours to just two minutes.
Soaring 625 metres above the Beipan River in Guizhou’s mountainous terrain, the bridge is nearly nine times as tall as San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
Furthermore, with a main span of 1,420 metres, the project has been recognised by Guizhou provincial authorities as the world’s longest-span steel truss girder suspension bridge in mountainous terrain.
The ‘Earth’s crack’
Spanning the Huajiang Grand Canyon, dramatically dubbed “the Earth’s crack”, this 2,890-metre-long structure is the latest addition to the rapidly expanding infrastructure network of the world’s second-largest economy.
The Beipan River also hosts the former world’s tallest bridge, situated approximately 100 kilometres from the new Huajiang Grand Canyon structure. This previous record-holder, which officially opened to traffic in 2016, boasted a vertical clearance of 565.4 metres from its deck to the river surface below.
“The new bridge, which will greatly enhance regional connectivity, is a landmark project that showcases China’s innovation,” said Zhang Yin, head of the provincial transportation department, according to the Xinhua report.
The bridge has achieved multiple technological breakthroughs in its wind-resistance design and high-altitude bridge construction, obtaining 21 authorized patents. Several of its technological innovations have been incorporated into national bridge construction standards, Zhang added.
Since the bridge’s construction began, the building team has overcome immense challenges posed by the Grand Canyon. By leveraging a suite of new technologies, including satellite navigation, drones, smart monitoring systems, and ultra-high-strength materials, they achieved millimetre-level precision in high-altitude construction, transforming a once-impassable barrier into a transportation corridor.
Over the years, Guizhou, one of China’s least developed provinces, has constructed over 30,000 bridges in its mountainous terrain, including three of the world’s tallest. The province is home to nearly half of the world’s 100 tallest bridges.
Last month, the Huajiang Grand Canyon bridge had successfully passed a five-day load-bearing test.
The load test is the last step before it is considered safe to welcome traffic.
Around 96 heavy trucks, each weighing around 35 tonnes,wererolled on designated points to test the bridge’s structural integrity.
