Longli Bridge

Longli Bridge
龙里河大桥
Longli, Guizhou, China
945 feet high / 288 meters high
1,732 foot span / 528 meter span
2024

Longli Bridge is the latest king of the glass bridge craze that has spread to every region of China. With a deck 288 meters high and a main span of 528 meters the 4-lane cable stayed road and pedestrian bridge has the longest and third highest glass bridge walkway ever built.

Located in Longli "Dragon" County, the 1,260 meter long bridge previously referred to as Duohua Bridge 朵花特大桥 was constructed to allow easier access to the popular Prairies Scenic Area located on a high mesa at an elevation more then 300 meters above the surrounding terrain. A nearby ropeway is also open to tourists. Previously the Prairies Scenic Area could only be reached by a steep and winding 2-lane road with many dangerous switchbacks.

The construction of a record breaking glass bridge was largely inspired by the successful 2016 opening of the now famous Zhangjiajie Glass Footbridge in nearby Hunan Province. The 430 meter suspension span is the world's 3rd highest glass pedestrian bridge since Longli is a combination road/pedestrian bridge.

In addition to the 3 meter wide glass paneled walkways on both sides of the main span, Longli Bridge has a glass elevator that descends to a glass decked "apron" that encircles the lower part of the west tower offering yet another unique way to experience the Duohua River gorge.

Plans originally were for a deck 273 meters high before a redesign placed it 15 meters higher up to an elevation 288 meters above the creek. Early renderings also show glass panels along the entire 860 meters of the 3 main spans before a decision was made to place the glass panels only along the 528 meter long central span.

Extra wide boulevards were constructed to allow direct access to the bridge from both the G75 and S85 Expressways 10 kilometers to the north making the bridge less then an hours drive from the 6 million citizens of Guiyang City.

The new Longli Bridge has a span configuration of 245+528+245 meters on towers as tall as 265 meters.

The older Duohua Bridge design had a span configuration of 3x40 +60 +185+490+185 +60 +4x40 meters on towers 254.8 and 244.6 meters tall. The deck is at an elevation of 1,438 meters while the creek is at 1,150 meters.