The world’s highest bridge is the Duge Bridge, officially known as The First Beipanjiang Bridge. At some point, the bridge was also dubbed the Nizhu River Bridge or Beipanjiang Bridge. It is on the border between the Guizhou and Yunnan provinces in China.
The four-lane cable-stayed bridge carries the G56 Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway across the Beipan River. Designated as G56 and commonly known as the Hangrui Expressway, G56 Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway connects the cities of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and Ruili in Yunnan province, on the border with Burma.
Construction and inauguration world’s highest bridge
The construction of the world’s highest bridge started back in 2013. After approximately three and a half years of engineering and construction, the bridge was completed in November 2016 for ¥1.023 billion.
The company responsible for the construction of the Duge Bridge is Guizhou Road and Bridge Group Co., Ltd. (GRBG). The latter is a state-owned engineering and construction company headquartered in the province of Guizhou in China. It specializes in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure projects such as highways, bridges, and tunnels.
The world’s highest bridge was opened to traffic on Dec 29 2016.
Components of the world’s highest bridge
The main components that make up the structure of the Duge Bridge are steel and concrete. The principal cable-stayed framework of the bridge was made out of steel, while the piers and the bridge deck were made out of concrete.
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Measurements of the Duge Bridge
The world’s highest bridge has a total length of 1341.4 meters and 7 spans the longest of which is 720 meters. The height of the Duge Bridge tower is 269 meters on the Guizhou side and 247 meters on the Yunnan side. The vertical distance from the bridge surface to the river surface reaches an eye-dizzying height of 565.4 meters. This makes Duge Bridge the highest bridge in the world.
The vertical distance of the bridge from the top to the river surface on the other hand is 740 meters. Duge Bridge has a total of 112 pairs of 224 cable stays.
