Travel time between the canyon’s two sides now takes just two minutes, according to officials (Image: Getty)
China has opened the world’s highest bridge, and it didn’t come with the price tag many would expect. The Huajiang Canyon Bridge opened to the public on September 18 and spans a vast mountain gorge in south-west China.
It cost 2.1billion Chinese renminbi to build, which is roughly £216million – surprisingly cheap, given its record-breaking scale. The bridge stretches across the Beipan River in Guizhou Province, an area known for its rugged terrain and deep valleys. Before it existed, travelling between nearby regions meant navigating winding mountain roads or relying on ferries, with journeys reportedly taking two hours.
Today, the journey across the river takes just two minutes.
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The bridge has been certified by the Guinness World Records as the world’s highest (Image: Getty)
Compared to some of the world’s other megaprojects, the bridge was built on quite a modest budget.
The Queensferry Crossing, for example, which is the UK’s tallest bridge, cost about £1.35billion to build.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which is the world’s longest sea crossing, stretching 34 miles across the Pearl River Delta, cost about £15billion to build.
Rather than performing complex assembly in the hazardous conditions of the canyon floor, much of the construction was modular. Components were manufactured off-site, transported to the location and lifted into place.
The rapid and relatively low-cost construction could be explained by the project’s structure, according to loveMONEY.com.
The builder, Guizhou Road and Bridge Group Co Ltd, is state-owned. Government backing can streamline approvals, funding and logistics, helping to avoid delays that often affect private projects.
Another likely factor is the use of engineers early in their careers, who typically earn lower salaries. Combined with generally lower wage levels, this helps reduce overall construction costs while still maintaining a large, skilled workforce.
The project was commissioned to revitalise the Guizhou province, which is a remote and mountainous region.
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Work began in early 2022. The bridge towers 2,053ft above the river below and is nearly twice as tall as London’s Shard. It has a total length of 9,480ft.
It required 22,000 tons of steel for the trusses and massive suspension cables, all built to withstand high wind turbulence and challenging karst geology.
As reported by Xinhua, the bridge was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s highest bridge, with a confirmed height of 626.01 metres on Tuesday.
Luo Qiong, an official adjudicator with Guinness World Records, said at the certification ceremony: “The final confirmed height of the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is 626.01 metres, surpassing the previous world record of 565.4 metres. The challenge has been successful.”
