r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/rapatakaz • 1d ago

Video China is completing the construction of the tallest bridge in the world, which runs through the Grand Huajiang Canyon. The 2,890-meter-long steel suspension bridge rises 625 meters above sea level

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228

u/gabacus_39 1d ago

What does height above sea level have to do with anything? Do you mean height above whatever it's going over?

208

u/jwfacts 1d ago

Good question about a bad title.

From Wikipedia. “Upon completion, it will be the world’s highest bridge, measuring 625 metres (2,051 ft) from the bridge deck to the bottom of the gorge.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huajiang_Canyon_Bridge

The towers add another 200m in height.

145

u/coomzee 1d ago

Like the Czechs saying their building is the tallest in Europe if you include the mountain it's built on

41

u/Babys_For_Breakfast 1d ago

That was my first thought. Sea level doesn’t matter, just tell me how far it is off the ground.

-28

u/Mitridate101 1d ago

It's a way of cheating the measurements just like they have their own inch.

31

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 1d ago

Wait, what? China doesn't use inches. Only the UK and some former colonies use inches.

19

u/Mitridate101 1d ago

They do , it's called the Cun. Nicknamed the Chinese inch. It's slightly longer than a standard inch.

35

u/RealEstateDuck 1d ago

One would expect it would be the other way around.

8

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 1d ago

Aha, OK. I see what you mean. That’s not actually an inch though, but they do have their own traditional measurements. In Korea they use pyeong for floorspace when buying a house.

1

u/Mitridate101 1d ago

Yeah, you gotta be careful buying a tape measure though....

-12

u/AceAlex__ 1d ago

It's how high up it is relative to sea level...

16

u/gabacus_39 1d ago

I effen know what above sea level means. That measurement means nothing for this bridge though. It's actually 625 meters above the river below or whatever is down there.

11

u/Narcan9 1d ago

There's a bridge in Denver that's 1600 m above sea level!