---
title: "“World’s Highest Bridge” Opens in China Over 1,850-Foot Gorge"
description: "It took three years and $146.7 million (a bargain!) to build the Beipangjiang Bridge."
date: "2016-12-29"
modified: "2017-01-05"
authors:
  - name: "Aaron Brown"
    job_title: "Staff Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/aaron-brown"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/6721/worlds-highest-bridge-opens-in-china-over-1-850-foot-gorge"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "bridges"
  - "China"
  - "Infrastructure"
---

# “World’s Highest Bridge” Opens in China Over 1,850-Foot Gorge

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/china_high_bridge_opens_hero.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

A bridge in China suspended over a [1,854-foot gorge became the "world's highest"](<https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-4073400/Now-s-HIGH-way-world-s-highest-bridge-standing-1-850-feet-gorge-opens-traffic.html>) when it opened to automotive traffic Thursday, reports said.

The Beipanjiang Bridge took three years to build, cost more than $146.7 million dollars, and stretches to be 4,396 feet long. Its four-lane roadway sits nearly two thousand feet over the Beipan River, which it's named after, to connect the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in southwest China, *People's Daily Online* reported. It surpassed the 1,837-foot-tall Sidu River Bridge for its world record title.

We know what you're thinking: $146.7 million is cheap! And it is! After all, when the Golden Gate Bridge spanning San Francisco Bay was built in 1933 it cost $1.5 billion (in adjusted dollars), and the brand new New Bay Bridge, on the other side of town, ended up costing a whopping $6.7 billion when it was finished in 2013.

The Beipanjiang Bridge is part of the 2,115 mile Hangrui Highway which connects Hangzhou to the China-Myanmar border crossing in Ruili. Construction actually finished on the bridge September 10, but the massive sky-scraping overpass only opened to vehicular traffic today.

Though the Beipanjiang Bridge might be the highest bridge in the world, the world's *tallest* bridge is still the Millau viaduct in France which tops out at 1,125 feet, the *BBC* reported.

https://youtube.com/embed/8qeiFK5G54c

## Author
Aaron was previously a contributing writer with Jalopnik and has also written for Business Insider covering cars. When he's not in the office writing the news, you'll probably find him thrashing a beater car around a RallyCross.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/aaronmaxb>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/aaronmaxb>)