The longest glass bridge in the world, temporarily closed

The longest and highest bridge of glass in the world in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China, will be temporarily closed starting Friday, as a result of the tourists’ influx after its inauguration in August, reported Xinhua.

Officials told CNN that the popularity of the tourist attraction meant urgent maintenance in the area was needed. “We’re overwhelmed by the volume of visitors,” a spokesperson from the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon’s marketing and sales department said. He also added that the bridge could hold 8,000 people per day but demand exceeded that ten times.

According to the Management Committee of the bridge during the closure they will perform "an upgrade to the internal system" of the bridge, which through its design and construction broke 10 world records. More, during the temporary closure, officials are expected to make improvement to parking, ticketing and customer service.

This announcement comes as a result of the important number of tourists that, although it had been limited to 8,000 per day, was subjected to more than 10,000 people who wanted to visit it every day. The online community expressed quickly its concern about the safety of the bridge, after the decision to close it on a temporary basis, but the Management Committee gave assurances that the closure was due to hardware and software problems. The changes to be made as a result of updating the system will have to go through a formal assessment before the bridge could be reopened, said the already mentioned committee.

With a length of 430 meters, 6 meters wide and with a floor made of 99 glass panels, the bridge is located in magnificent scenery, 300 meters high between two cliffs of the National Park Zhangjiajie in Hunan province (central China).