<p>The world's highest bridge has opened to traffic in China, connecting two provinces in the mountainous southwest and reducing travel times by as much as three-quarters, local authorities said today.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Beipanjiang Bridge soars 565 metres (1,854 feet) above a river and connects the two mountainous provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, the Guizhou provincial transport department said in a statement on its official website.<br /><br />The bridge cut travel times between Xuanwei in Yunnan to Shuicheng in Guizhou from more than four hours to around one, a truck driver surnamed Duan was quoted by the official news agency Xinhua as saying after the bridge opened Thursday.<br /><br />It was "very convenient for people who want to travel between these two places", he added.<br /><br />The 1,341-metre span cost over 1 billion yuan (USD 144 million) to build, according to local newspaper Guizhou Daily.<br /><br />It overtook the Si Du River Bridge in the central province of Hubei to become the world's highest bridge, a separate statement by the provincial transport department said earlier.<br /><br />Several of the world's highest bridges are in China, although the world's tallest bridge -- measured in terms of the height of its own structure, rather than the distance to the ground -- remains France's Millau viaduct at 343 metres.</p>
<p>The world's highest bridge has opened to traffic in China, connecting two provinces in the mountainous southwest and reducing travel times by as much as three-quarters, local authorities said today.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The Beipanjiang Bridge soars 565 metres (1,854 feet) above a river and connects the two mountainous provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, the Guizhou provincial transport department said in a statement on its official website.<br /><br />The bridge cut travel times between Xuanwei in Yunnan to Shuicheng in Guizhou from more than four hours to around one, a truck driver surnamed Duan was quoted by the official news agency Xinhua as saying after the bridge opened Thursday.<br /><br />It was "very convenient for people who want to travel between these two places", he added.<br /><br />The 1,341-metre span cost over 1 billion yuan (USD 144 million) to build, according to local newspaper Guizhou Daily.<br /><br />It overtook the Si Du River Bridge in the central province of Hubei to become the world's highest bridge, a separate statement by the provincial transport department said earlier.<br /><br />Several of the world's highest bridges are in China, although the world's tallest bridge -- measured in terms of the height of its own structure, rather than the distance to the ground -- remains France's Millau viaduct at 343 metres.</p>