All right, gephyrophobes, get ready for your new nightmare! Crossing bridges combines some people's worst fears, and China's just-opened Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is sure to tick lots of boxes. Fear of heights? This bridge is the highest in the world at 2,050 feet. Fear of water? Should have mentioned that's 2,050 feet above the Beipan River. Fear of being trapped? Well, it's also the world's longest bridge in a mountainous region at 4,600 feet, so hope there's no traffic jam when you're commuting. Gephyrophobia often also includes a fear of driving, but given the site you're reading, you're unlikely to have that.
Speaking of commuting, that's the real wonder of this bridge. For Guizhou Province residents who live on one side of the canyon, driving to the other side used to take two hours, just under the runtime of "Jurassic Park." But deinophobia sufferers can rejoice because the new bridge cuts that time down to two minutes, meaning you won't have to suffer the dinosaurs in Michael Crichton's warning of man's hubris, but can instead can laugh at a compilation of trucks shearing off their roofs under 11-foot-8 bridges, or take in most of a YouTube short.
The new bridge wasn't just for the benevolent act of reducing drive times. Its other purpose is to attract tourists and promote economic growth. Historically, Guizhou was one of China's most impoverished regions, but it's been going through a serious renaissance for the last dozen years. Thanks to government economic initiatives and cheap electricity, it's now a massive data hub, going from a $76 billion gross domestic product in 2011 to around $269 billion in 2021.
If building a bridge as a tourist attraction sounds like the idea of a particularly unimaginative civil engineer, understand that this is far more than a bridge. One of its highest points is a breath-snatching 2,600 feet over the water, so naturally the designers put a coffee shop there. To get to said coffee shop, patrons take a high-speed glass elevator. If Netflix ever gets around to making "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator," the sequel to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," it looks like there's a good candidate for a filming location.
There's no word on how fast the elevator actually is, but the world's fastest high-speed elevator, in Shanghai Tower, goes almost 46 mph, or 118 stories in 55 seconds. Were the bridge engineers serious about tourism, they could have made it like Ferrari's Formula Rossa roller coaster turned vertically and rocket occupants to 149 mph in 4.9 seconds, speed and acceleration that make Formula Rossa the fastest roller coaster in the world.
Coffee isn't the only destination at the top of bridge, as there's also a lookout point to enjoy the scenic vistas. This bridge is located over a massive canyon, after all, and the rolling hills and mountains make for some spectacular viewing. If instead of merely gazing at the scenery you'd like to see the Beipan River rushing toward you at human terminal velocity, you can bungee jump off the bridge, too. But maybe leaping from the bridge isn't the kind of terrifying you want. You can instead walk across the glass walkway, 1,900 feet above the ground/water/trees/your doom.
We pause now for the pedantic but essential difference between a bridge that's the "highest" and the one that's the "tallest." "Highest" refers to deck height, or how far the part people drive on is above the ground or water, while "tallest" refers to the distance between the bridge's base and the top of its towers or pylons.
While the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge is the world's highest, the tallest is in France. The Millau Viaduct connects Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers by spanning the Tarn valley. It's a true beauty, and is the current tallest bridge in the world, though China's Puzhehei Bridge will surpass the Millau once it opens in 2026. Seven slender pillars hoist the Millau Viaduct into the air, and mists often obscure the ground, giving drivers the feeling of driving over a cloud. This bridge can even be seen from space. Even after its crown of "tallest" is taken, this will still be one of the best bridges to drive across.
As for why China has so many long, tall bridges, it's astoundingly mountainous. Mountains make up about a third of China, and the country can't have people driving through winding roads hugging the ground if it wants people to transport goods, products, and themselves quickly. To ferry the populace from one area to the next efficiently, China has ensured that roads will sprout faster than Jack's beanstalk. The country's first expressway opened in 1988, and since then, China has constructed almost 100,000 miles worth of expressways. By 2028, it plans to add eight more to the list of "world's highest bridges." If you're a gephyrophobe living in China, maybe convince your boss to let you work from home.