A Museum of the World's Bridges

Guizhou has the world's largest number and highest density of giant highway bridges over valleys. Today, there are 26,000 highway bridges in the province, covering almost all types of bridges in the world. That makes Guizhou a "Museum of the World's Bridges".

Nearly half of the world's top 100 high bridges built and under construction are in Guizhou, including five of the top 10. Three bridges erected in 2016, for example, all rank among the top 10 in the world. Specifically, Beipanjiang Bridge at the Bidu section of Hangzhou-Ruili Expressway ranks first with a height of 565 meters, Yachihe Bridge ranks fifth with a height of 434 meters, and Qingshuihe Bridge ranks sixth with a height of 406 meters.

The bridges in Guizhou have attracted daredevils from around the world. They would challenge themselves with extreme sports such as 370-meter bungee jumping, high-altitude swings, paragliding, downhill longboarding, and skydiving at Beipanjiang Bridge, Balinghe Bridge and other bridges. Why are there so many bridges on Guizhou's expressways? It has something to do with the geographical feature of high mountains and deep valleys, but more consideration is given to the environment. In Guizhou, expressways are located at high positions in a contour map. This can minimize the damage to mountains, the occupation of land, and geological hazards such as landslides. Moreover, Guizhou does its best to bypass environmentally sensitive areas in the design of road bridge routes.

世界橋梁博物館

貴州是世界上特大峽谷橋數量最多而且最密集的地區之一。目前,貴州已建公路橋梁超2.6萬座,幾乎包攬當今世界上全部的橋型,堪稱“世界橋梁博物館”。

目前,世界已建和在建高橋前100名中,近一半在貴州;前10名中貴州占5座。僅以2016年為例,這一年建成的三座大橋都躋身世界前十位,其中杭瑞高速畢都段北盤江大橋高565米排名第一,鴨池河大橋高434米排名第五,清水河大橋高406米排名第六。

貴州橋梁還成了世界各地冒險家們的樂園,在北盤江大橋和壩陵河大橋等地,冒險家們挑戰包括370米蹦極、高空秋千、滑翔傘、速降、跳傘等極限運動。貴州高速公路為什么橋梁多呢?這和山高谷深的地理環境有關系,但是,更大的原因在于生態考量。貴州高速公路建設選擇等高線的高位,這可以最大限度地減少破壞山體,最大限度地減少占用土地,最大限度地避免滑坡等地質災害隱患。而且,在公路橋梁線路方案的選擇上,盡量繞開環境敏感點。