Bridges become Guizhou's most popular tourist destinations

Guizhou's Pingtang Bridge has the world's tallest reinforced concrete bridge tower. [Photo provided to eguizhou.gov.cn]

The highlight of the Sky Bridge service zone is the close-up view of the world-class bridge – Pingtang Bridge – in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

The bridge is a three-tower cable-stayed bridge, with the middle tower reaching a height of 332 meters, making it the world's tallest reinforced concrete bridge tower.

It has been honored with three major engineering awards, including the "Gustav Lindenthal Medal" at the International Bridge Conference, the "FIDIC Project Award" from the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, and the "Outstanding Infrastructure Award" from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering.

"At the design stage, we took into consideration the mountainous and water-rich terrain of Guizhou, and we wanted to integrate the bridge into the surrounding scenery, complementing the valleys," said Liu Hao, the chief engineer at the third branch of Guizhou Bridge Construction Group Co.

"Before 2018, Guizhou did not have any bridges where tourists could stop and enjoy the view. At Meinyupo, we used 200,000 cubic meters of filling material to level the valley, creating the present-day Sky Bridge service zone ", Liu added.

The Sky Bridge service zone is the first highway service area in the province to receive a national 3A-level scenic spot rating. It will also be upgraded to include the Guizhou Highway Heritage Museum, a campsite, a research and study building, and a capsule hotel.

According to statistics, Guizhou has built more than 30,000 bridges among 1.26 million mountains. As of the end of 2022, it had built a total of 210,000 kilometers of roads, including 8,331 km of expressways.

There are more than 28,000 road bridges and over 4,400 km of bridges in the province, long enough to connect Guizhou with Beijing and back again. Nearly half of the world's top 100 highest bridges and four of the top 10 highest bridges are located in Guizhou.