China opens world’s longest glass bridge above a canyon

BREAKING 10 world records for engineering and design, this glass skywalk above a canyon is terrifying. The safety testing process was even scarier.

Visitors walk across a glass-floor suspension bridge in Zhangjiajie in China’s Hunan Province on Saturday. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

CHINA has just opened the world’s highest and longest glass bridge — and it looks completely terrifying.

Breaking records at 430m long, and measuring just six metres wide, the glass-bottomed skywalk hangs 300m above a canyon in the Tianmenshan National Forest Park in Hunan province, in central China.

The bridge is made of 99 panes of three-layer transparent glass and set 10 world records for design and construction, its management committee told the state-run China Daily.

The walk provides breathtaking views of the canyon. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

A maximum of 8000 visitors are allowed to cross the skywalk each day, with reservations made a day in advance.

Keen tourists have already trekked across the bridge, taking in the breathtaking views of the deep canyon.

The bridge has undergone a series of checks to reassure the public of its safety.

It’s not for the faint of heart. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

To ensure the bridge could handle the load, earlier this year officials sent in sledgehammers and a carload of passengers for a terrifying test ride across the new bridge.

It’s now open for walks across and by June 2017 visitors will also be able to hang from the overpass on three massive swings, or if they’re really brave, bungee jump off the side, Zhangjiajie Canyon Tourism Management Company vice general manager Joe Chen told the design blog Inhabitat.

Spanning 430m, the bridge has set a new world record, Chinese state media says. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

Zhangjiajie’s pillar-like mountain formation featured in the Hollywood blockbuster movie Avatar, the report said.

The area received more than 1.2 million visitors in 2015.

The canyon walk is the latest on a growing list of terrifying skywalks to open in China.

Earlier this month, China opened the Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk — a 100m-long, 1.6m glass path strapped to the side of the Tianmen Mountain in Hunan province.

The bridge hangs 300m above the canyon. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

The walk overlooks Tongtian Avenue, a mountain road with 99 turns that snakes up the mountain in Hunan’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, and provides a gut-churning view of the 300m drop below.

But not all China’s amazing skywalks have been without real danger.

A glass pane on a new transparent walkway shattered near Yuntai Mountain, Henan Province, in October last year.

Some of the bridge’s first visitors check out the scenery after it opened on August 20. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

A visitor posted pictures of cracked glass on Chinese social media. Authorities confirmed the incident and closed the tourist attraction for repairs.

A spokesman told People’s Daily that the cracks occurred after a tourist dropped a stainless-steel mug on the walkway, which is more than 400m long. Only one of three layers of glass was broken, meaning the tourists were not in danger, he said.

— With AAP