Published : 28/11/2025
On 28 September 2025, the world's highest bridge, Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Guizhou, officially opened to traffic.
The Huajiang Grand Canyon is known as the "Earth crack", with perilous terrain making the bridge's construction extremely difficult.
How did this bridge, the same height of a 200-storey building, manage to become the world's No.1 in both height and span?
Why is it necessary to build this bridge?
Guizhou Province has numerous mountains and complex, treacherous terrain. Its 32,000 bridges weave a convenient transport network, earning Guizhou the reputation of a "world museum of bridges".
Nearly half of the world's 100 highest bridges are located in Guizhou, which also holds the top three spots.
Before the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, the world's highest bridge was the Beipanjiang Bridge, with a height of 565 metres.
Read more: The Tallest Bridge｜Connecting China's Economic Lifeline
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is a key controlling project of the Guizhou Liuzhi-Anlong Expressway. The expressway is a major north-south corridor in central and western Guizhou and is a vital local economic artery.
However, the Huajiang Grand Canyon precisely 'splits' this expressway. Its karst landscape features steep terrain, a height difference of nearly a thousand metres, and a length of 80 kilometres, making it impossible to bypass.
Thus, building a bridge became the only option.
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge reduces the travel time between Guanling Bouyei and Miao Autonomous County and Zhenfeng County from the previous 2 hours to just 2 minutes.
It also cuts the driving time from Liuzhi Special District to Anlong County from 3 hours to about 1.5 hours
The bridge greatly facilitates the movement of people and the exchange of resources, and injects strong impetus into local economic development.
How much cutting-edge technology is hidden in the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge?
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is a dual-carriageway, four-lane expressway with a total length of 2,890 metres and a main span of 1,420 metres, ranking first in the world for the span of a bridge in a mountainous area.
The height from the bridge deck to the water surface is 625 metres, surpassing the previous world's highest bridge, the Beipanjiang Bridge, by 60 metres, making it a true 'world's number one in both height and span'.
Facing the natural challenges of the perilous deep valley, the designers innovatively applied multiple technological methods, such as an intelligent cable crane system and high-strength steel wires, obtaining 21 authorised patents.
Several technical achievements were incorporated into national bridge construction standards.
How exactly was this unprecedented iron and steel giant constructed? And how much cutting-edge technology was used in the process?
Among these, the most eye-catching is the smart cable system embedded in the main cables, which acts like the bridge's nervous system and can perceive the bridge's health status in real time.
The smart cables contain three built-in fibre optic grating sensors that can dynamically monitor data such as temperature, humidity, and stress 24 hours a day.
When the humidity exceeds 64%, a dehumidifier is automatically activated, effectively preventing the risk of corrosion caused by condensation in enclosed spaces and safeguarding the bridge's hundred-year lifespan.
How are the two main cables, each approximately one metre thick, securely anchored?
Due to topographical constraints, the bridge uses two asymmetrical anchorages:
One is a gravity anchorage with a concrete volume of 160,000 cubic metres, and the other is a tunnel anchorage deeply embedded in the mountainside.
Cast at the same time as the anchorages are two bridge towers, each 262 metres high.
After the bridge towers and anchorages were built and the main cables were secured, it was time to construct the bridge deck.
The designers pioneered the development of the fourth-generation intelligent cable hoisting system, using high-definition cameras, the BeiDou System and Internet of Things to carry out millimetre-level precision assembly.
Much like building with blocks, this system enabled all-weather intelligent monitoring and one-click hoisting.
The lifting and docking process was reduced by one hour. The entire process was fully completed in just 73 days.
While challenging limits with Chinese wisdom, the builders consistently adhered to the concept of green development.
The construction of this bridge used drone aerial survey technology to reduce vegetation damage, innovatively used recycled construction waste materials. Besides, a wind and solar complementary lighting system was installed.
All these measures were to ensure that the bridge construction was coordinated with ecological and environmental protection.
The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge has provided a "Chinese solution" for mountain bridges worldwide, achieving numerous technical breakthroughs in areas such as wind-resistant design and high-altitude construction.
It symbolised that China's bridge construction technology in karst canyon regions is firmly at the world's leading level.
After the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge opens to traffic, it not only sets a new record for world-class transport projects but also becomes a brand-new highlight on Guizhou's cultural tourism map.
It brings tourists a new, deeply integrated experience, where bridge and scenery blend as one and every step reveals a new view.
For bridges, China leads the world, and Guizhou leads China.
With 32,000 bridges, Guizhou is transforming its topographical destiny of "no three feet of level land" into a legend of "turning natural chasms into thoroughfares".
Building roads through every mountain is the strength of the Chinese nation to make flowers bloom in the cracks.