New Guizhou projects bridge valleys, changing lives

Tang Qiguo and his two colleagues enjoy the kind of breathtaking views from their workplace that probably beat the views from 99 percent of company headquarter offices anywhere in the world.

They work with the clouds beneath their feet, and fog at their fingertips and looking down, their view is of a river flowing through a valley, surrounded by mountains.

The three men are construction workers on the Zangke River Bridge, one of the most important projects along a new freeway linking Nayong and Qinglong in Guizhou province.

It is like a massive swing hanging between the mountains, high above the river. The 21-year-old and his peers work on cables strung at a height of some 200 meters, the equivalent of about 88 stories in height. To do so, they use two special walkways that run for around 1,000 m on either side.

The walkways are made out of wooden planks and metal grids and are fenced in. Although both the engineers and construction workers have said they are quite safe, it takes someone able to conquer their fear to walk them.

This isn't a problem for Tang or his colleagues, who traverse the walkways as easily as if they were walking along the street, albeit one at a height of over 200 m.

Construction is expected to be completed in August, 2024. Once finished, the bridge will slash travel time across the valley from 1 hour to 1 minute, greatly benefiting the residents of the mountainous area.

It's a reflection of the ambitions for the development of transport in Guizhou, which is a mountainous province with little flat land.

As a result of these difficulties, Guizhou's development has been subject to restriction and it was once one of the poorest provinces in China.

Compared to the plains, transport through Guizhou's mountains requires advanced technological solutions and costs more to build, requiring many tunnels and bridges.

According to the provincial transport commission, there are more than 28,000 bridges dotted along the region's 210,000-kilometer road network, 8,331 km of which are freeways. In 1949 when the PRC was founded, there were just 357 bridges in Guizhou.

They are not only a link enabling social and economic development, but also a "calling card" that demonstrates major Chinese accomplishments in transportation infrastructure.