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), it is the sixth-highest bridge in the world and the world's twelfth-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 Festivaland 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.[10] 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
