China’s Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, the tallest bridge in the world, will open to traffic on September 28 according to the local Guizhou Provincial Government.
Newsweek contacted the Guizhou Provincial Government for comment on Thursday via Facebook direct message.
Why It Matters
Rising 625 meters above the Beipan River the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is 2,890 meters long and has a main span of 1,420 meters according to The Global Times, a publication run by China’s ruling communist party.
This makes it both the tallest bridge in the world and the globally longest spanning bridge that has been constructed in mountainous terrain.
The construction shows off Chinese engineering prowess against the backdrop of intense competition between Beijing and the U.S., with the dueling superpowers facing off over trade, Taiwan and the sovereignty of the South China Sea.
Over ten years ago China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), leader Xi Jinping’s signature infrastructure program which has seen $1 trillion worth of investments poured into projects in nearly every region of the globe. It was meant to place China firmly on center stage as an alternative financier—and therefore power center—to U.S.-led institutions.
And with President Trump dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year, this could make space for China to step in and take over and fund projects that the U.S. is walking away from.
What To Know
The Guizhou Provincial Government’s department of transportation announced the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge will open to traffic on Sunday during a press briefing held on September 24.
According to Zhang Yin, the department’s director, the bridge will reduce the travel time between the two sides of the Beipan River from around two hours to two minutes.
They added that the bridge incorporates the latest in high-altitude construction techniques and has an advanced wind-resistant design.
According to Zhang the bridge and a nearby tourism facility, which includes a geological museum, tower-top café and bungee jumping, is expected to attract more than one million visitors per year, boosting the local economy.
Construction on the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge began in 2022 with a test involving 96 trucks, weighting around 3,300 tons combined, having been successfully completed on August 25. The test was designed to simulate real traffic conditions with engineers embedding a series of sensors along the bridge to monitor stress, vibration and any deflection in the structure.
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge forms part of a larger infrastructure program aimed at connecting isolated areas in southwestern China.
What People Are Saying
According to China Daily, a Chinese state affiliated publication, Zhang said: “This bridge will cut travel time between the two banks from about two hours to roughly two minutes, improving local transport and driving economic and social development, especially in rural areas.”
Mamdouh El-Badry, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Calgary, told Newsweek: “In other parts of the world, a project of this scale would typically take five to 10 years from groundbreaking to completion, depending on environmental, political, and logistical factors.
“For comparison, France’s Millau Viaduct, one of the tallest in the world, took about three years to build following over a decade of planning and approvals. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Detroit to Windsor and planned to open for traffic in fall 2025, would have taken over seven years from groundbreaking.”
On its website the Guizhou Provincial Government celebrated its new bridge with a poem. This read: “Steel as web, wisdom as anchor, beneath the vaulted sky a verdant span is drawn. The world’s tallest bridge is opening soon, coming to Guizhou to be among the first to check in!”
What Happens Next
Unless there are any last minute issues Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge will open to vehicular traffic on Sunday. The exact economic impact it has on the local area remains to be seen.