China Opens Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, World's Tallest

China opened the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge to traffic on Sunday, unveiling what provincial authorities describe as the world's tallest bridge. The steel-truss suspension crossing spans the Huajiang Grand Canyon in Guizhou province, rising about 625 metres above the Beipan River, stretching 2,890 metres in total and featuring a main span of 1,420 metres. Officials said the new link cuts a once two-hour canyon crossing to roughly two minutes.

Construction began in 2022 and took about three years to complete, provincial authorities said. Engineers carried out final static and dynamic load tests in August, driving 96 heavy trucks, with a combined weight of roughly 3,300 tonnes, onto designated points of the deck to measure displacement and stress in the main span, towers, cables and suspenders. Authorities said the bridge also passed a subsequent multi-day loadbearing test before opening.

Guizhou officials and project managers credited a suite of advanced technologies with enabling the build in difficult terrain, including satellite navigation, drones, smart monitoring systems and ultrahigh-strength materials. Zhang Yin, head of the provincial transportation department, said the...