The Ganxi Grand Bridge in Guiding County, Guizhou province, is completed on September 26, 2022. On Monday, PHOTO CHINA DAILY Construction was completed on a high-profile bridge in Guizhou, which will reduce travel time in the province and promote local economic development.
The Ganxi Grand Bridge, which spans 1,220 meters, is a key project of an expressway in Guiding County of Guizhou.
The bridge spans a reservoir in Ganxi forest park, so vehicles won't have to travel along a winding mountain road to get from one side to the other. The travel time between Xinba township and Guiding county will be reduced to 15 minutes from the current hour.
The construction team spent more than three years tackling the technical challenges of building the bridge in the mountainous region.
Guizhou, a landlocked and mountainous country, has developed a lot in the past decade in terms of its expressway infrastructure. The total length of the expressway network in the province exceeded more than 8,000 kilometers by the end of last year. Expressway mileage went from 2,630 km in 2012 to 8,010 km in 2021, and now ranks fifth in the country. Nearly half of the world's 100 highest bridges are located in the province, according to the provincial government.
The construction was completed on another high-profile bridge in Guizhou — the Wujiang Grand Bridge — last month.
Its total length is 1,834 meters, with 504 meters spanning the water.
The bridge, made of concrete-filled steel tubing, presented many challenges during construction because of its mountainous location, huge span and small construction space.
The development of the inland province has been hampered due to poor transportation infrastructure, as Guizhou is the only province in the country without plains.
The past decade has seen a big leap in the development of infrastructure in the province, Shen Yiqin, Party secretary of Guizhou, said at a news conference in August in the provincial capital Guiyang.
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The influence of the development of transportation infrastructure in Guizhou is enduring and profound, said Li Bingjun, governor of Guizhou.