Driving the most beautiful Spiral Highway of Shanxi

Located in Zezhou County, in the southeast of Shanxi province, China, a spiraling section of the National Highway 207 is one of the most challenging drives in the world.

Spiral Highway of Shanxi

Located on the eastern part of the country, the road was designed to decrease the speed of vehicles when going uphill and downhill. The section from Xinfangwa to the provincial boundary of National Highway 207 was listed by the Ministry of Transportation and the National Development and Reform Commission in July 2013 as one of the "bottleneck sections". After 3 years of construction, in October 2019 it was finally opened to traffic.

The new road is 27,6 km (17.14 miles) long and comprises the defiant Tupo Bridge. A bridge spiral (or bridge spiral, helix bridge, or helical bridge) is a bridge that forms a loop around its own path, in order to rapidly gain altitude. This spiraling section of the National Highway 207 is over 600m tall. Technically, the shape of such a bridge describes a helix rather than a spiral. This type of bridge is useful where the slope of the land is steep or where the road leading to the bridge would end too far from the end of the bridge.

Road suggested by: jorge manuel gómez sánchez
Pic: China Q&A

 

 

 

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