The Hongqi Bridge in China’s Sichuan Province collapsed into a river with jaw-dropping speed, just months after vehicles first crossed its deck, Fox News reported.
On November 11, the towering structure gave way around 3 p.m. local time, breaking apart and falling into a gorge near a hydropower station—an episode with no reported casualties that has nonetheless shaken public trust in China’s much-touted infrastructure spree.
Local officials had detected warning signs the day before: visible cracks surfaced on the roadway and on a right-bank slope, prompting authorities to issue safety advisories and impose traffic restrictions ahead of the failure.
Bridge Built to Symbolize National Strength Crumbles
The Hongqi Bridge was part of the G317 national highway project, linking central China to Tibet through the rugged Maerkang region. When it opened earlier in 2025, Chinese state media heralded it as an engineering triumph meant to boost access to the west and spur regional growth.
Instead, the 758-meter-long, two-lane cantilevered beam bridge is now submerged—or twisted in wreckage—alongside the riverbed it once spanned. The structure stood approximately 625 meters above the gorge floor, with concrete piers stretching as high as 172 meters, making the collapse not just a failure of design, but of pride.
It was built by Sichuan Road & Bridge Group, a state-backed firm tapped to deliver high-profile infrastructure for Beijing’s westward expansion push. What they delivered was a cautionary tale of overconfidence and underperformance on a spectacular scale.
Warnings Went Unheeded Until It Was Too Late
On November 10—just one day before the bridge folded—transportation and public security authorities on site observed deformation on the slope anchoring the structure’s right side. Cracks appearing on both the slope and the road surface prompted temporary closure and warnings.
Thankfully, those precautions may have prevented the disaster from turning fatal. “No casualties had been reported,” a Barkam County official told the state-run Global Times.
That’s a rare relief in a story so otherwise troubling. For once, a government agency acted swiftly enough to get ahead of a crisis before human lives were lost.
Cameras Capture Collapse as Nation Watches
But fame arrived anyway—just not the kind engineers had hoped for. Footage of the bridge pancaking into the gorge was shared widely across Chinese social media platforms, showing steel and concrete crashing down below in clouds of dust and debris.
The images, verified by Reuters and Chinese media, showcased an event that was both sudden and disturbingly thorough. Nothing remained standing across the river where a state-approved roadway had existed hours before.
“No casualties had been reported,” the official reiterated—again to the Global Times—as state censors raced to contain online speculation about China's building standards.
Investigation Points to Natural Instability—For Now
While the exact cause remains under review, initial assessments suggest that natural geological instability in the area may have played a role. It’s a convenient explanation, albeit not a particularly comforting one.
Building a bridge over a deep mountain gorge isn’t for the faint of heart—and certainly not something to rush in the name of politics or prestige. The location, near a hydropower station in the remote Sichuan highlands, raises questions about whether human ambition once again outpaced geological reality.
Now, attention turns to the investigation, where Chinese authorities will likely examine whether shortcuts were taken, whether peer reviews were ignored, or if flawed assumptions about the terrain doomed the bridge from the outset.
