Bridge Tourism Integration: From Mega-Projects to Travel Destinations

【Close-up】

During the recent New Year's holiday, visitors flocked to the Huajiang Canyon Bridge in Guizhou to capture photos. Dubbed the world's tallest bridge in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, this structure holds the world records for the longest main span of any mountain bridge and the tallest bridge globally. It has become a popular destination for tourists visiting Guizhou to admire bridges and scenic views.

Equally commendable is the surrounding landscape development. When high bridges transcend their role as mere transportation hubs, Guizhou leverages the “bridge+” innovation model—using bridges as mediators, carriers, and catalysts—to unlock mountain tourism potential and cultivate new economic growth points.

In the view of Yang Jian, Chief Engineer at Guizhou Provincial Transportation Planning, Survey and Design Institute Co., Ltd., the completion of a series of world-class canyon bridges has significantly enhanced Guizhou's accessibility and appeal as a “mountain park province.” This shift encourages tourists to transition from merely “passing through” to “staying longer,” transforming bridges into new platforms that attract foot traffic, drive consumption, and disseminate culture. This represents a fundamental departure from the past practice of building roads and bridges solely for connectivity.

“More importantly, Guizhou has consistently adhered to the principles of ‘ecological priority, minimal intervention,’ and ‘one bridge, one strategy’ in its transportation development.” Yang Jian illustrated this with examples: the Sky Bridge Service Area was strategically located in a karst depression, cleverly utilizing the terrain to avoid extensive earthworks; the Yundu Service Area incorporated karst water discovered during tunnel construction, meeting water needs while creating a dynamic landscape. This wisdom of integrating engineering with ecology, scenery, and culture ensures sustainable development, vividly demonstrating the fundamental shift from pursuing connectivity to creating value.

[Data Speaks]

To date, Guizhou has constructed over 30,000 bridges, with existing and under-construction spans exceeding 5,000 kilometers in total length. The world's tallest bridge—the Huajiang Canyon Bridge on the Liuan Expressway—the world's second-tallest bridge—the Beipanjiang Bridge on the Hangrui Expressway—and the world's third-tallest bridge—the under-construction Tianmen Grand Bridge on the Anpan Expressway—are all located in Guizhou. In the global top 100 tallest bridges ranking, Guizhou leads with an absolute advantage, occupying nearly half of the positions. 

Among these, the Huajiang Canyon Bridge scenic area, which officially opened in the second half of last year, saw annual visitor traffic exceed one million, with foreign tourists accounting for 12%. Since its opening in 2020, the Pingtang Sky Bridge scenic area has welcomed over 4.6 million visitors and hosted more than 700 study tour groups. The Balinghe Bridge Museum has been developed into a “National Study Tour Base,” welcoming over 250,000 domestic and international visitors.

Furthermore, Guizhou's transportation sector has systematically mastered a series of critical construction technologies for mountainous regions, including kilometer-level suspension bridges, long-span cable-stayed bridges, and continuous rigid-frame bridges. This has established a comprehensive technology export mechanism for major bridge and tunnel construction, cementing the Guizhou bridge brand.

【Standing at a New Starting Point】

From the Balinghe Bridge to the Pingtang Grand Bridge, then to the Beipanjiang Bridge and Huajiang Canyon Bridge... By creating world-class tourism landmarks centered around world-class bridges, Guizhou's “bridge-tourism integration” development is pioneering a new paradigm for mountain tourism, effectively promoting the “Mountain Park Province” brand image.

As a participant and witness to these super projects, facing the new opportunities of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Yang Jian stated: Our vision is to transform Guizhou into a ‘mountain tourism destination and extreme sports paradise,’ where every visitor immerses themselves in the unique experience of ‘one bridge, one landscape, one painting—wandering mountains and waters as if stepping into a scroll.’ This truly empowers better lives through transportation, injects momentum into high-quality development, and turns every road and bridge into a window for telling Guizhou's stories and showcasing China's strength."