Huajiang Gorge Bridge on the Liuzhi to Anlong Expressway in Guizhou Province

Project Overview:

The Huajiang Canyon Bridge is a key project on the Liuzhi–Anlong Expressway in Guizhou Province, spanning the Huajiang Grand Canyon. The Huajiang River is a section of the Beipanjiang River. The Huajiang Grand Canyon plunges nearly a kilometer deep and stretches for 80 kilometers, earning it the nickname “Earth’s Crack.” It represents a typical canyon landform along the Beipanjiang River.

The Huajiang Canyon Bridge spans the Huajiang Grand Canyon, often referred to as the "Earth's Rift." The main bridge is a single-span steel truss suspension bridge with a span of 1,420 meters. Its span length ranks first in the world among bridges located in mountainous regions, and its deck height above the water surface reaches 625 meters—making it the tallest bridge in the world. It is renowned for being "the world's longest in both horizontal and vertical dimensions."

The bridge is seamlessly integrated with the natural and cultural landscapes surrounding its site, endowing the bridge itself and its associated service areas with a unique scenic character. By combining the bridge with the world-class Triassic geological relics in the vicinity, we’ve fostered synergistic development of the scenic area, driving an upgraded and iterative integration of bridges and tourism. Through the construction of an integrated bridge-tourism complex that combines “bridge sightseeing, bridge-based sports experiences, and tourism services,” we’ve created a model for Guizhou’s bridge-tourism integration 3.0. We’ve successfully pioneered a brand-new approach—using world-class bridges to build world-class tourist attractions—and set a global benchmark for bridge-tourism integration, thereby contributing significantly to Guizhou’s development as a world-class tourism destination.

On September 28, 2025, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge—the world’s tallest bridge—was completed and opened to traffic. From the 28th to the 30th, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge tourist area welcomed 45,000 visitors. During the National Day holiday, the cumulative vehicle traffic in the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge tourist area reached 40,700 trips, with over 220,000 visitors received. The peak daily visitor count reached 41,000. The total tourism revenue generated in the areas surrounding the bridge exceeded 100 million yuan, yielding significant social benefits.

Project Highlights:

1. By adopting smart main cables and implementing online monitoring of cable temperature, humidity, and stress-strain, we can achieve real-time health monitoring of bridges. Among these, the stress-strain monitoring technology using carbon-fiber optical fiber Bragg gratings in smart cable strands represents the first domestic application of its kind. This technology enables full-length, real-time, online monitoring of the entire span of kilometer-scale highway bridges, overcoming significant challenges in the fabrication and engineering application of ultra-long fiber optic sensors as well as key technical hurdles. It opens up a new pathway for digitally empowering the entire lifecycle of bridge construction, operation, maintenance, and management, creating favorable conditions for providing timely, scientific, reliable, and accurate data and information to enhance bridge construction quality and safety management.

2. For the first time, we have adopted a forged-welded cable saddle. Compared to conventional cast-welded cable saddles, this design offers superior mechanical performance, better structural uniformity, and greater reliability. It also exhibits excellent compatibility with high-strength steel wires, enabling a lighter-weight structure that is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.

3. The canyon’s wind environment is complex, and traditional wind-measurement methods struggle to simultaneously capture the wind-field distribution patterns both along the bridge axis and in the vertical direction. To obtain wind parameters at the bridge site, a three-dimensional scanning-line wind lidar was employed, conducting wind measurements by scanning both along the bridge axis and at various heights along the bridge towers. Combined with theoretical analysis, wind-tunnel tests were carried out on the bridge, comprehensively comparing and evaluating the effects of different combinations of aerodynamic measures on flutter stability. For the first time in a steel truss suspension bridge, an aerodynamic measure consisting of an “upper central stabilizer plate plus upper and lower horizontal stabilizer plates” was adopted, effectively enhancing the bridge’s wind resistance performance. Moreover, the lower horizontal stabilizer plate was utilized as part of an integrated aerial racing track design that blends bridge infrastructure with extreme sports, ensuring not only excellent wind resistance but also achieving a seamless integration of the bridge and extreme sports activities, while maintaining strong economic viability.

4. The main cables are equipped with an “fire-resistant, flame-retardant, and corrosion-resistant” system, meeting the protection standard of “withstanding 60 minutes of burning in a fire environment at 1100℃ without the surface temperature of the cable wires exceeding 300℃.” Below a bridge deck height of 12 meters, the main cables are protected using a “fire-resistant and sealing” approach; above 12 meters, both the main cables and side main cables are protected using a “flame-retardant and sealing” approach. This enhances the fire safety and durability of the main cables, strengthens the bridge’s resistance to disasters, and ensures the safe operation of the bridge.

Project Showcase: