The hors-shoe shaped Glass Bridge, otherwise known as the “Sky Walk” is one of the aspiring and magnificent civil engineering project which shows the unmatched thinking of engineer skills. The construction of this glass bridge started in March 2004 and opened to the general public on March 28, 2007.
Glass Bridge is suspended a height of 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon.
In 2005, it was tested for its structural ability and the results were really very good. It passed all its engineering requirements by 400 percent and therefore the total load which this glass bridge is able to withstand is equal to the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes which is more that 71 million pounds. The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. It is said that more than one million pounds of steel was used in the construction of the Grand Canyon sky walk.
This is what I found while searching in Wikipedia click here for more information. And the official website. In the end don't miss to watch the amazing video :)
This place is in one of my dream destinations list, so what's your ?
P.S : the images and video source is Internet.
8 comments:
I almost went to see the skywalk two years ago, but then instead ended up going to the actual Grand Canyon National Park itself, which is absolutely spectacular. The good thing with visiting the park too is you get a chance to hike all the way down the canyon, which was quite memorable. The views are specatacular!
Note to self: I've got to blog about this sometime.
LOL! I also heard a rumor (and I'd really like to know if this is true) that cameras are now forbidden on the skywalk after an incident whereby some tourist dropped the camera and left a dent in the skywalk. *gasp!*
Sorry about the long comment...got all excited about the post. :D
vagabond, I am glad that you liked the post, and I was expecting to read something from you about the place :) Thank you so much for sharing all that useful information.
Oh! so now we can’t take cameras there :(
And hey, do I need to say you needn’t bother about the length of the comment but the sense in it.
interesting place alok and I do agree with you..reading vagabonds comment made me gasp too
interesting place...but i think going to the grand canyon national park would be my dream destination....among other destinations that is..
one place that i really really want to go is...island #6 on andaman and nicobar....its out of this world..and restricted for civilians...
my brother(who's in army) showed me pics and im mesmerized from then on
Lakshmi, thank you :)
Shooting star, thanks for dropping by here and sharing your thoughts. Andaman and nicobar, is there in my travel list too. I guess a must visit place :)
"Oh! so now we can’t take cameras there :( "
Alok, from what I've heard, no you cant take your own cameras there but they have their own photographers there who charge an exorbitant fee to take your photos for you.
vagabond, that sounds to me a smart business move by the authority :P … but the good thing is that at least something is available for taking pictures :)
That's really cool!! I'd like to explore the length and breadth of the Grand Canyon sometime in the future.
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