China opens world's highest bridge

Its height is equivalent to a 200-story building.

(Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

published 29 December 2016

Even the most daring of souls might get a little nervous crossing the Beipanjiang Bridge in southwest China, which spans mountains and gorges 1,854 feet in the air.

The four-lane suspension bridge is now open to traffic, connecting the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan. It's 4,399 feet long, and equivalent to a 200-story building, CCTV reports. Construction on the $143 million bridge started in 2013, and the structure is expected to shorten the travel time between Guizhou and Yunnan from five hours to 90 minutes. Engineers said wind affected how they constructed the bridge, and parts of it had to be assembled on-site. Guizhou province is already home to 7 of the 10 highest bridges in China.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.