The Aizhai
Bridge is a suspension bridge on the G65 Baotou–Maoming Expressway near Jishou, Hunan, China. The bridge was built as part of
an expressway from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Changsha with a main span of 1,146
metres (3,760 ft) and a deck height of 350 metres (1,150 ft),as of
2013, it is the sixth-highest
bridge in the world and the world's fifteenth-longest suspension
bridge. Of the world's 400 or so highest bridges, none has a main span as long
as Aizhai. It is also the world's
highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge.The bridge contains 1888 lights to
increase visibility at night. Construction on the Aizhai Bridge began in
October 2007 and was completed by the end of 2011, ahead of schedule. The
bridge was temporarily opened to pedestrians during the 2012 Spring Festival and
was formally opened to traffic in March 2012.
The bridge was built with the assistance of a
$208 million loan from the Asian
Development Bank; the loan also funded 64 kilometres (40 mi) of expressway
construction and upgrades to 129 kilometres (80 mi) of local roads. The bridge and the associated road
construction were projected to reduce the travel time between Jishou and
Chadong from 4 hours to less than 1 hour. In September 2012, the Aizhai Bridge
was the site of an international BASE
jumping festival that included
more than 40 jumpers from 13 countries.