With a dizzying height more than nine times that of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, China has inaugurated the world’s tallest bridge: the impressive Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, located in the remote and mountainous southwestern province of Guizhou. The bridge, officially opened at the end of September 2025, connects two cliffs of the Huajiang Gorge with a daring structure suspended about 625 meters above the Beipan River.
To give an idea of its grandeur, just think that it is more than double the height of the Eiffel Tower and also towers above the tallest skyscraper in China, the Shanghai Tower, if you consider the distance between the bridge and the river below.
Two hours to two minutes by car
Before construction, crossing the gorge meant navigating winding, switchback roads for over two hours. Today, thanks to the new bridge, the journey can be done in just two minutes. A transformation so radical that it was described by Chinese state media as a true “infrastructural miracle”.
The structure is not only the tallest, but also one of the longest ever built in a mountainous region: 1,400 meters in total length, much more impressive than the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado (until yesterday the highest in the United States at 291 metres). The construction required four years of intensive work and the securing of fragile, particularly unstable karst terrain.
The Huajiang Bridge project is the result of a transformation process that has lasted for over thirty years. Since the 1980s, Guizhou province has grown from fewer than 3,000 bridges to over 32,000, becoming one of the most well-infrastructured territories in China. In this context, the work represents not only a successful engineering challenge, but also a symbol of economic development in one of the once most isolated areas of the country.
It is no coincidence that the Duge Bridge was also built in Guizhou in 2016, which for a period held the height record before being surpassed by its “big brother”, the new Huajiang Grand Canyon.
Thrilling tourist attraction
But this bridge is not just an arterial road. The engineers also thought of it as a breathtaking tourist attraction. A series of panoramic elevators takes visitors up to a café suspended 800 meters above sea level, while a glass walkway at 580 meters offers a thrilling experience for adrenaline seekers. There is also a platform for bungee jumping and a visitor center with transparent flooring, from which you can look directly into the depths of the gorge.
During the tests, to test the resistance of the bridge, over 90 heavy trucks were passed through, thus demonstrating the reliability of the structure.
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