Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge

The Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge or Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge is a 366-metre-high suspension bridge on the Guanxing Highway near Xingbei Town (Xinbeizhen), Zhenfeng County, Guizhou Province, China. The bridge has a span length of 388 metres. When it opened in 2003 it was the world's highest bridge. It held that title until the opening of the Hegigio Gorge Pipeline Bridge in 2005.

Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge 北盘江大桥 (Beipanjiang Daqiao)
Coordinates	25.650850°N 105.692210°E / 25.650850; 105.692210
Carries	Xingyi to Guiyang Highway (Guanxing Highway)
Crosses	Beipan River
Locale	near Huajiang town, Guizhou, China
Other name(s)	Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Suspension bridge
Material	Steel and concrete
Total length	388 m (1,273 ft)
Height	366 m (1,201 ft)
Longest span	388 m (1,273 ft)
History
Designer	Major Bridge Reconnaissance Design Institute
Construction end	2003
Opened	2003

Height

When the bridge was completed in 2003 it was the highest in the world, sitting 366 metres above the Beipan River. The bridge became the second Chinese span in two years to take the record. The first was the Liuguanghe Bridge in 2001. In 2009 a dam was constructed downstream from the bridge, reducing the drop to the water slightly.

The Beipan River Guanxing Highway Bridge was the first suspension bridge to break the 1,000-foot (300 m) and 300-metre height thresholds (the Liuguanghe Bridge also passes these thresholds but is a beam bridge) as well as the first suspension bridge in the world to surpass the height of Colorado’s Royal Gorge Bridge after a 74-year reign. The bridge is also the second of three Beipan River crossings to have been among the world’s ten highest. The first was the 902-foot-high (275 m) Beipanjiang River Railway Bridge, which opened in 2001 and was the highest train bridge in the world until 2016 when China’s Najiehe Railway Bridge and Qinglong Railway Bridge were opened. The Beipan River Hukun Expressway Bridge, the third bridge to cross high above the Beipanjiang, opened in 2009 on the Guiyang-to-Kunming Highway with a suspension span 1,083 feet (330 m) above the river.[1]

See also

• List of highest bridges in the world

References

1. "Beipanjiang River 2003 Bridge". HighestBridges.Com. 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.

External links

• on HighestBridges.com
• 北盘江大桥 (Beipanjiang Bridge) (in Chinese)