Beijing – The world’s highest and longest glass bridge has opened to visitors in central China , Xinhua news agency said.
The 430-metre long, 6-metre wide glass-bottomed walkway hangs 300 metres above a canyon in the Tianmenshan National Forest Park in Hunan province, central China.
By June 2017, visitors will also be able to hang from the overpass on three massive swings or bungee jump off the side, Zhangjiajie Canyon Tourism Management Company vice general manager Joe Chen told the design blog Inhabitat.
Composed of 99 panes of three-layer transparent glass, the bridge has set 10 world records for design and construction, the management committee told the state-run China Daily.
Zhangjiajie’s pillar-like mountain formation featured in the Hollywood blockbuster movie “Avatar,” the report said.
A maximum 8 000 visitors are allowed to cross every day. Reservations must be made a day in advance.
The canyon scenic area received more than 1.2 million visitors in 2015.
In an attempt to reassure the public of the bridge’s safety, officials sent in sledgehammers and drove a car full of passengers across the bridge earlier this year.
A glass pane on a new transparent walkway shattered near Yuntai Mountain, Henan Province, in October last year.
A visitor posted pictures of cracked glass on Chinese social media. Authorities confirmed the incident and closed the tourist attraction for repairs.
A spokesperson told People’s Daily that the cracks occurred after a tourist dropped a stainless-steel mug on the over-400-metre-long walkway.
Only one of three layers of glass was broken, meaning the tourists were not in danger, he said.
DPA