An aerial view of the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in Southwest China's Guizhou Province Photo: Courtesy of Guizhou Communications Investment Group Corporation

After more than three years of construction, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, the world's tallest bridge, officially opened to traffic on Sunday morning, marking the full opening of the entire Liuzhi-Anlong expressway in Southwest China's Guizhou Province. Global Times reporters witnessed the steel giant soaring across the deep canyon, turning a once-treacherous natural barrier into a modern thoroughfare.

With a total length of 2,890 meters and a main span of 1,420 meters, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is currently the world's largest spanning bridge built in a mountainous area. With a vertical height of 625 meters from the deck to the water surface, it has earned the title of "the world's tallest bridge." After the official opening, the travel time between the two sides of the bridge will plummet from the original 2 hours to just 2 minutes, the Global Times learned from Guizhou Communications Investment Group Corporation, the investor and constructor of the bridge.

In an interview with the Global Times, Liu Hao, the chief engineer of the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge project, pointed out that thanks to China's advanced infrastructure technology and construction capabilities, "the construction of the bridge encountered no significant difficulties."

"We aimed to integrate emerging high-tech solutions with civil engineering to embody high-quality development in this project," he emphasized. The bridge's success relied on innovations such as an intelligent cable-hoisting system, 2,000-megapascal high-strength steel wires, and real-time health monitoring sensors embedded in the cables, earning 21 patents and setting new national standards for bridge construction.

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Zhang Xiaosong, a cultural and tourism expert from the Guizhou Normal University involved in designing post-opening tourism routes for the bridge, told the Global Times that, from the outset, the bridge was planned as a tourism-sports complex. Designed with sightseeing and extreme sports in mind, it features attractions such as high-altitude swings, race tracks, anchor-rock climbing, sightseeing corridors, and a cloud-top café nearly 800 meters above the river.

Planned tourism facilities such as cable cars from service areas to bridge abutments, homestays, a research base, and museum will be launched sequentially.

"We hope that through this bridge, we can showcase Guizhou's beautiful mountains and rivers to more tourists at home and abroad, allowing more people to experience its unique natural beauty and witness the enduring vitality of China's infrastructure innovation via this bridge and the 'capillaries' of national and provincial highways," Zhang said.

Guizhou's unique karst landscape, with its majestic mountains and rivers, once posed formidable barriers that isolated local communities and hindered exploration beyond the region. Today, however, these very geological features have made it a global hub for landmark bridges, transforming natural challenges into engines of economic and infrastructural development. With over 32,000 bridges built or under construction, the province accounts for nearly half of the world's top 100 highest bridges, including the top three, according to the Guizhou provincial transportation department.

"Behind Guizhou's world-record bridges lies a powerful force: The momentum of Chinese modernization, paired with the people's determination to build a better life by forging paths through mountains and bridging rivers," Liu said. "In the future, these beautiful and magnificent sceneries, along with these bridges that embody wisdom and dedication, will surely be seen by more people, and will also inspire countless others."

Lu Qiong, a resident of the Buyi ethnic group, and her young son look at the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge from an adjacent service area in Southwest China's Guizhou Province on September 28, 2025. Photo: Lin Xiaoyi/GT

A newlywed couple experiences the high-altitude glass walkway on the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge on September 28, 2025. Photo: Chen Tao/GT

Representatives of the bridge construction workers attend the ceremony for the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge's opening to traffic on September 28, 2025. Photo: Chen Tao/GT

International athletes who came to participate in the "Guizhou in Motion" 2025 International High Bridge Extreme Sports Invitational Tournament stand on the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, on September 28, 2025. Photo: Chen Tao/GT

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