Hanging 625 Meters Over A Ravine, Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge Is World’s Highest – For Now

This new suspension bridge rises an astonishing 625 meters (2,051 feet) from its deck to the stream below, earning it the title of the highest bridge in the world. While its record-breaking height is the standout feature, it also stretches an impressive 1,420 meters (4,659 feet) across the Huajiang Canyon with a startling absence of support struts. 

This feat is made possible by its suspension design: massive main cables drape between towering pylons and anchor deep into the ground at each end, while vertical suspenders carry the weight of the deck up to these tensioned cables. The result is a structure that seems to hang unsupported in midair, delicately balanced by the forces of physics.

The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is in the very final stages of construction and set to open in June 2025. When fully up and running, it will officially swipe the title from the previous record holder, the Beipanjiang Bridge, which has a dizzying height of 565 meters (1,854 feet).

“When the bridge opens in the second half of 2025, this super project spanning the ‘Earth’s crack’ will showcase China’s engineering capabilities and boost Guizhou’s goal of becoming a world-class tourist destination,” said Zhang Shenglin, chief engineer of Guizhou Highway Engineering Group Co, according to China Daily.

To flaunt the success of the megaproject, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge will feature a tourist center that tells the story of its construction and the ancient geological history of the canyon it spans. It will also include a glass elevator that goes to the top of the south tower, where a bar and café await.

But spectacle hasn’t come at the expense of safety. The bridge’s massive suspension cables are sheathed in multiple layers of protection and treated with cutting-edge fire-resistant and anticorrosion technology. This advanced system can reportedly withstand temperatures up to 1,100°C (2,012°F) for a full hour without sustaining any damage.

“Fire-resistance standards take into account the worst-case scenario, such as an oil tanker catching fire on the bridge deck. A burning fuel truck can raise temperatures to around 1,000°C [1,832°F]. That’s why we set our design threshold at 1,100°C,” Wu Huijuan, who is responsible for the fire-treatment project, told China Daily.

“Even if a tanker burns for an hour, the cables remain unscathed,” she explained.

Its jaw-dropping height is a response to the geography it encounters. The Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge and the Beipanjiang Bridge both span the Beipan River, which winds through the dramatic karst terrain of Guizhou Province. 

In a region defined by deep ravines and towering peaks, these engineering marvels dramatically cut travel times by allowing vehicles to cross directly over the gorges, rather than winding up or around the mountainous terrain.

China launched a massive expressway expansion in the 1990s to link its major cities, fuel economic growth, and foster national integration. As of 2023, the total highway length approaches 183,600 kilometers (113,600 miles), with these bridges playing a crucial role in turbocharging the connection of the country’s far-flung regions.

As such, China has emerged as a powerhouse in bridge construction. Today, Guizhou Province has more high bridges than every other country on Earth combined and, by 2030, it’s set to have more than 1,000 bridges that are over 100 meters (328 feet) from the deck to the water below. If you look at the top 50 highest bridges that exceed 300 meters (984 feet) from deck to water, all are in China except for three. 

These achievements are all the more striking given that China had just a single bridge taller than 122 meters (400 feet) as recently as 1994.