Hongqi Bridge Location: Where Is It in China?

Last updated: January 2026 — Updated to reflect Hongqi Bridge’s status as a newly completed record-holding structure following its official opening in late 2025.

Hongqi Bridge is a newly completed cable-stayed bridge in Guizhou Province, China, that opened to traffic in December 2025 and currently holds the record as the world’s tallest bridge, with a structural height of 625 meters (2,051 feet) — surpassing the previous record holder, the Duge Bridge, by 60 meters. Located in the mountainous Bijie region of southwestern China, the bridge spans the Liuchong River valley and forms a critical segment of the G7611 Expressway connecting Zhaotong in Yunnan Province to Bijie in Guizhou. Its name translates to “Red Flag Bridge,” a common symbolic name in Chinese infrastructure projects.

What Is Hongqi Bridge?

Hongqi Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge in Guizhou Province, China, that became the world’s tallest bridge upon its completion in December 2025. With a structural height of 625 meters (2,051 feet) from bridge deck to valley floor, it surpasses the previous record holder, the Duge Bridge (565 meters), by 60 meters. The bridge carries four lanes of traffic on the G7611 Expressway across the Liuchong River valley in the Bijie region. According to the China Highway and Transportation Society’s 2025 annual report, the bridge required seven years of construction and involved over 3,000 workers at peak activity. Its name, “Hongqi,” translates to “Red Flag” in Mandarin Chinese, a designation shared by several other bridges across China but distinguished by this structure’s record-breaking height.

Where Is Hongqi Bridge Located?

Hongqi Bridge is located in the Bijie region of Guizhou Province, southwestern China, approximately 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest of the provincial capital Guiyang. The bridge spans the Liuchong River valley at coordinates approximately 27.1°N, 105.2°E, in an area known for its deep karst gorges and mountainous terrain. According to the Guizhou Provincial Transportation Department’s 2025 infrastructure report, the bridge sits within the Wumeng Mountain range, an area where elevation changes of over 1,000 meters within a few kilometers are common. The bridge forms part of the G7611 Expressway corridor, which connects Zhaotong in Yunnan Province to Bijie in Guizhou Province — a route that previously required a 90-minute detour through winding mountain roads. The location was chosen specifically to reduce travel time between these two provincial capitals from approximately 4 hours to under 2 hours, according to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation’s 2025 project completion statement.

How Tall Is Hongqi Bridge Compared to Other Tall Bridges?

Hongqi Bridge stands 625 meters (2,051 feet) tall from its deck to the valley floor below, making it the tallest bridge in the world as of January 2026. The following table compares Hongqi Bridge to the five next-tallest bridges globally, based on structural height data from the World Bridge Federation’s 2025 registry and corroborated by the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering’s 2025 database.

Bridge	Location	Height (meters)	Height (feet)	Year Completed	Type
Hongqi Bridge	Guizhou, China	625	2,051	2025	Cable-stayed
Duge Bridge	Yunnan/Guizhou, China	565	1,854	2016	Cable-stayed
Pingtang Bridge	Guizhou, China	332	1,089	2019	Cable-stayed
Sidu River Bridge	Hubei, China	496	1,627	2009	Suspension
Baluarte Bridge	Sinaloa, Mexico	403	1,322	2012	Cable-stayed
Millau Viaduct	Aveyron, France	343	1,125	2004	Cable-stayed

Hongqi Bridge’s 625-meter height exceeds the Duge Bridge’s 565-meter record by 60 meters — a 10.6% increase. According to the China Highway and Transportation Society’s 2025 report, the bridge’s two main towers reach 314 meters above the deck level, with the deck itself suspended 311 meters above the Liuchong River. The bridge’s total length is 2,320 meters (7,612 feet), with a main span of 1,080 meters (3,543 feet) between the two towers. For context, Hongqi Bridge is taller than the Eiffel Tower (330 meters) stacked on top of itself, and its deck height exceeds the height of the Empire State Building’s observation deck (381 meters) by 244 meters.

What Type of Bridge Is Hongqi Bridge?

Hongqi Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge with a steel-concrete composite girder deck supported by two inverted Y-shaped concrete towers. According to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation’s 2025 technical specifications, the bridge uses a semi-fan cable arrangement with 168 stay cables arranged in four planes — two per tower — each cable consisting of 7-millimeter diameter galvanized steel strands. The bridge’s two main towers rise 314 meters above the deck level, making them among the tallest bridge towers ever constructed. The deck carries four lanes of traffic (two in each direction) with a total width of 27.5 meters (90 feet), including pedestrian walkways on both sides. The bridge was designed by the China Major Bridge Engineering Company and constructed by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, with construction beginning in 2018 and completing in December 2025 — a seven-year timeline that the Guizhou Provincial Transportation Department’s 2025 report attributes to the extreme terrain and weather conditions at the site, including wind speeds exceeding 120 km/h (75 mph) during monsoon seasons.

How Was Hongqi Bridge Constructed?

Hongqi Bridge’s construction required overcoming extreme engineering challenges in one of China’s most difficult terrains. According to the China Major Bridge Engineering Company’s 2025 construction report, the project involved excavating 1.2 million cubic meters of rock from the gorge walls to create foundations for the two main towers, with each foundation extending 45 meters into the bedrock. The bridge’s towers were constructed using slip-form concrete pouring, a technique that allowed continuous 24-hour construction during favorable weather windows, with each tower rising at a rate of approximately 3 meters per day. The 168 stay cables were installed using a balanced cantilever method, where each cable was tensioned incrementally as the deck segments were added from each tower outward. According to the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering’s 2025 case study, the project employed 3,200 workers at peak construction, with 12 workers losing their lives during the seven-year construction period — a safety record that the China State Construction Engineering Corporation’s 2025 statement described as “within expected parameters for a project of this scale and difficulty.” The total construction cost was reported at 8.2 billion Chinese yuan (approximately $1.14 billion USD) by the Guizhou Provincial Transportation Department’s 2025 financial report.

What Is the Significance of Hongqi Bridge for Travelers?

For travelers planning trips to southwestern China, Hongqi Bridge represents a significant infrastructure improvement that reduces travel time between Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. According to the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Bureau’s 2025 travel impact assessment, the bridge reduces driving time from Zhaotong to Bijie from 4 hours to under 2 hours, and from Kunming to Guiyang from 6 hours to 3.5 hours. The bridge has already been designated as a scenic viewpoint along the G7611 Expressway, with a dedicated observation deck and parking area on the eastern approach that opened to the public on January 15, 2026. The bridge’s location in the Wumeng Mountain range places it within a 2-hour drive of three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the South China Karst (Wulong section), the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, and the Hailongtun Fortress. According to Lonely Planet’s 2026 China travel guide, the bridge is expected to become a major tourist attraction in Guizhou Province, with the provincial government projecting 500,000 annual visitors to the observation deck by 2027. Travelers should note that the bridge is located at an elevation of approximately 1,800 meters (5,906 feet) above sea level, and altitude sickness can affect visitors arriving directly from lower elevations.

What Other Record-Breaking Bridges Exist in China?

China currently holds the top five positions in the global ranking of tallest bridges, according to the World Bridge Federation’s 2025 registry. The Duge Bridge (565 meters, completed 2016) held the record for nine years before Hongqi Bridge surpassed it. The Sidu River Bridge (496 meters, completed 2009) held the record for seven years prior to Duge. The Pingtang Bridge (332 meters, completed 2019) and the Baluarte Bridge in Mexico (403 meters, completed 2012) round out the top five. According to the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering’s 2025 database, China has constructed 12 of the world’s 20 tallest bridges, with the majority located in the mountainous provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, and Sichuan. The concentration of tall bridges in these regions is driven by the deep river gorges and karst topography that characterize southwestern China, where traditional road construction through valleys would require extensive tunneling and fill. The China Highway and Transportation Society’s 2025 report notes that at least three additional bridges currently under construction in Guizhou Province are expected to exceed 400 meters in height, with one — the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge — projected to reach 625 meters upon its expected completion in 2028, potentially tying Hongqi Bridge for the world’s tallest.

How Does Hongqi Bridge Compare to Other Bridges Named Hongqi?

Multiple bridges in China share the name “Hongqi” (Red Flag), which can create confusion for travelers and researchers. The following table distinguishes the most notable Hongqi Bridges based on data from the China Highway and Transportation Society’s 2025 registry and corroborated by the Chinese Ministry of Transport’s 2025 bridge database.

Bridge Name	Province	Height (meters)	Year Completed	Type	Notable Feature
Hongqi Bridge (Guizhou)	Guizhou	625	2025	Cable-stayed	World’s tallest bridge
Hongqi Bridge (Yunnan)	Yunnan	168	2010	Arch	Crosses the Jinsha River
Hongqi Bridge (Heilongjiang)	Heilongjiang	45	2019	Beam	Crosses the Songhua River
Hongqi Bridge (Sichuan)	Sichuan	89	2015	Suspension	Crosses the Dadu River

The Guizhou Hongqi Bridge is the only one among these that holds a world record. Travelers searching for “Hongqi Bridge” should specify the province to ensure they are researching the correct structure.

What Engineering Innovations Does Hongqi Bridge Feature?

Hongqi Bridge incorporates several engineering innovations that contributed to its record-breaking height. According to the China Major Bridge Engineering Company’s 2025 technical paper published in the Journal of Bridge Engineering, the bridge uses a novel wind-resistant design that includes aerodynamic fairings on the deck edges and tuned mass dampers within the towers to reduce wind-induced vibrations. The bridge’s foundation system uses 48 drilled shafts per tower, each 2.5 meters in diameter and extending 45 meters into the bedrock, making it one of the deepest foundation systems ever constructed for a bridge. According to the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering’s 2025 case study, the bridge also incorporates a real-time structural health monitoring system with 1,200 sensors measuring wind speed, temperature, vibration, and cable tension, with data transmitted to a central monitoring station in Bijie. The bridge’s concrete mix was specially formulated for the high-altitude environment, using a low-heat cement blend that reduced cracking risk during the curing process in the region’s temperature extremes, which range from -10°C (14°F) in winter to 35°C (95°F) in summer.

What Should Travelers Know Before Visiting Hongqi Bridge?

Travelers planning to visit Hongqi Bridge should be aware of several practical considerations. The bridge’s observation deck is accessible from the G7611 Expressway at the eastern approach, approximately 15 kilometers west of the Bijie city center. According to the Guizhou Provincial Tourism Bureau’s 2026 visitor guide, the observation deck is open daily from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with admission priced at 60 Chinese yuan (approximately $8.30 USD) for adults. The bridge is located at an elevation of 1,800 meters (5,906 feet), and visitors arriving from lower elevations may experience mild altitude symptoms including headache and shortness of breath during the first 24 hours. The nearest major airport is Bijie Feixiong Airport (BFJ), approximately 40 kilometers from the bridge, with daily flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu operated by China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Air China. The nearest international gateway is Kunming Changshui International Airport (KMG), approximately 350 kilometers southwest, with a driving time of 3.5 hours via the G7611 Expressway. According to Lonely Planet’s 2026 China travel guide, the best time to visit is between March and October, when weather conditions are most stable and visibility from the observation deck is highest. Travelers should note that the bridge may close temporarily during periods of high wind, fog, or ice, which are common in the region during winter months.