On the morning of September 28 (local time), the world's highest bridge was officially opened to traffic in Guizhou province, southwestern China, shortening travel time through the deep canyons from 2 hours to just 2 minutes after 3 years of construction.
The Hoa Giang Dai Hiep Coc Bridge, spanning the Boi Ban River in the rugged mountain terrain of Guizhou, is 625m high, nearly 9 times the height of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (USA).
With a main span of 1,420m, the project has become the bridge with the longest span in the world in the mountainous area, according to the Guizhou provincial government.
Passing through Hoa Giang canyons, known as the "crack of the Earth", this 2,890m long bridge is the newest item in the rapidly developing infrastructure network of the world's second largest economy.
The world's tallest bridge also previously spans the Boi Ban River, about 100km from Hoa Giang Bridge. The old record, opened in 2016, has a vertical distance from the bridge deck to the river deck of 565.4m.
The new bridge, which significantly enhances regional connectivity, is a milestone project that demonstrates Chinas innovation, said Mr. Truong Dan, Director of the Department of Transport of Guizhou province.
According to Mr. Truong, Hoa Giang Bridge has achieved many technological breakthroughs in windproofing and high-altitude bridge construction techniques, with 21 patents granted. Many technical improvements have been included in national standards for bridge construction.
Since the start of construction, the construction team has overcome the huge challenges caused by the canyons. They apply a series of new technologies such as satellite positioning, drones, smart monitoring systems and super-strength materials, achieving accuracy of up to every mm in construction at an altitude, turning previously unattainable obstacles into a modern traffic route.
Over the years, Guizhou - one of the least developed provinces in China - has built more than 30,000 bridges on mountainous terrain, including the three tallest bridges in the world. The province is now home to nearly half of the world's top 100 bridges.
The total length of the bridges built and under construction in Guizhou is currently over 5,400km, larger than the length from west to east in China (over 5,000km).
