World`s tallest bridge opened in Mexico
Baku, January 6 (AZERTAC). Mexican President Felipe Calderon opened the world`s tallest cable-suspension bridge on Thursday.
Standing at 403 meter (1,322 ft) high across a deep ravine in the Sierra Madre mountain range in northern Mexico, the Baluarte bridge is part of a new highway that connects Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast and Durango in the interior.
While Calderon says the bridge crossing some of Mexico`s most rugged terrain will "unite the people of northern Mexico as never before," and provide economic boost to the region, critics say that it will become a superhighway for drug trafficking and illegal activity, as it links Durango and the neighboring coastal state of Sinaloa, on of the world`s notorious citadels of drug mafia.
The Guinness Book of World Records authorities presented the Mexican President with an award recognizing the engineering feat.
The Mazatlan-Durango highway will boost tourism and commerce in the region once it is open to traffic, possibly later this year, reports say.
Connected by Baluarte and eight other bridges over 300 meter high, as well as more than 60 tunnels, the highway will save about six hours` journey between Mazatlan and Durango.
Built at a coast of more than 20 billion pesos ($1.46 billion), the 1,124 meter-long bridge surpasses the famous Millau Viaduct in France as the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world.
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