Head for heights? Daring workers finish world's highest suspension bridge
- Filed under:
Travel News
Share
Text Size
A
A
A
Rex
How about this for a dizzying day job?
The highest and longest valley suspension bridge in the world has opened in southern China's Hunan Province - and workers seemingly risked life and limb to get it ready on time.
One man giving it a final sweep was pictured doing so with absolutely no safety equipment, giving us vertigo just looking at it.
Rex
The Aizhai suspension bridge has a main span of 1,176 meters and soars 335m above the ground. It was built as part of an expressway from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Changsha city in Hunan.
The completion of the bridge shortens the journey time between the two cities from several days to just eight hours.
Rex
Work started on the engineering feat in October 2007 and it has now finally opened to traffic. Driving across the bridge, which links two tunnels together, drivers are offered a breathtaking view of the Dehang Canyon.
Pedestrians can also walk across the bridge, which is lit up at night with 1,888 lights, using a special walkway beneath the road.
Would you take a stroll across this bridge? Leave your thoughts below...
Name that bridge!
- Does this bridge leave you in suspense?<p> Art critic and philosopher Alain de Botton likened this bridge in England's south west to a 'stocky middle-aged man who hoists his trousers and loudly solicits the attention of others before making a jump between two points.' Hmm....</p>
- It's Clifton Suspension bridge, Avon<p> Overlooking Bristol and the Avon Gorge, Clifton Suspension Bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was completed in 1864, five years after his death. It spans 702 feet and is considered one of the finest engineering feats in British history.</p>
- Recognise this rickety rope bridge?<p> For hundreds of years this bridge in Northern Ireland was used by fishermen to gain access to a small island whose waters were brimming with salmon...</p>
- It's Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge, Antrim<p> These days flocks of tourists have replaced hopeful fishermen on Country Antrim’s Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge- whose name means ‘rock in the road’. The salmon have dwindled, but fine coastal views attract ramblers from all over the UK.</p>
- This bridge was a world first!<p> The rural Shropshire valley dominated by this bridge - the first of its kind in the world - has been granted UNESCO status, owing to its historical significance as ‘The Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution’.</p> <p class="p1"> </p>
- It's Ironbridge, Shropshire<p> Upon its completion on New Year’s Day, 1781, Ironbridge became the world’s first, ahem, iron bridge. It overlooks the Ironbridge Gorge and village, whose factories used to produce more engines, wheels, rails and iron goods than anywhere else in the world.</p>
- Which Welsh bridge is this?<p> This historic suspension bridge hops over to a barren island known in the local language as ‘Ynys Môn’. In the background looms the tallest mountain range south of Scotland.<br/>
- It's Menai Suspension bridge<p> The island is Anglesey, the mountain range is Snowdonia and the bridge is Thomas Telford’s Menai Suspension Bridge, completed in 1826, which straddles the Menai Straits in Wales’s north-west.</p>
- Having a wobble about this bridge?<p> An iconic dome and one of the world’s trendiest art galleries are connected by this pedestrian-only affair, made of steel, and designed by one of our most eminent contemporary architects...</p>
- It's the London Millennium bridge<p> The iconic dome is that of St Paul’s Cathedral, the trendy gallery is the Tate Modern, the architect is Sir Norman foster, and the bridge, of course, is the London Millennium Footbridge, which was completed in 2000.</p>
- You can count on this bridge to get you over the estuary...<p> This toll bridge links a Welsh border town famous for its horse races to an English county notable for an orange-coloured cheese.</p>
- It's the Severn Bridge, Wales<p> Severn Bridge spans the Severn Estuary, linking the Welsh town of Chepstow and the English county of Gloucestershire. Strangely, passengers are only charged upon crossing from the English side.</p>
- Recognise this London monument?<p> One of the great London icons, it was constructed in 1894, has big neo-Gothic towers and looms over the River Thames beside the Tower of London...</p>
- It's Tower Bridge<p> Tower Bridge, made from Cornish granite, Portland stone and 11,000 tonnes of steel. At the time of construction, its trademark raising bascules- allowing river traffic to flow underneath- were a technological revelation. </p>
- This bridge is the pride of the north east...<p> This compression arch suspended-deck bridge is the best known of seven bridges crossing a famously foggy river...</p>
- It's the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle<p> Tyne Bridge overlooks the trendy BALTIC art gallery on Newcastle’s Quayside. Although there has been a bridge here since Roman times, the current structure dates back to 1928.</p>
- What's this striking example of Palladian architecture?<p> This bridge dominates the riverfront of a city forever associated with its Roman baths and Georgian townhouses. Based on a famous Italian bridge, it is one of only four in the world spanned by shops on either side.</p> <p class="p1"> </p>
- It's Pulteney Bridge, Bath<p> The city of Bath is home to Pulteney Bridge. Designed by Robert Adam and inspired by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, it was completed in 1773.</p>
- Do you know this strange looking bridge?<p> It might look like a row of giant tin openers, but this rotating boat-lift bridge ingeniously connects two of Scotland’s main canals.</p> <div> </div>
- It's the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland<p> The Falkirk Wheel makes it possible to transfer shipping between the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. The bridge is now such a national landmark that you can see a picture of it on one side of a Scottish £50 note.</p> <p class="p1"> </p>
- How many of the following architectural landmarks can you recognise?
