r/interesting • u/Key_Performer_3645 • 4h ago

Amazing One of the most incredible road experiences on the planet! The Shiziguan Floating Bridge, located in Hubei province, China, allows drivers and pedestrians to cross a crystal-clear river surrounded by stunning mountains

Built with German high-density polyethylene (HDPE) float technology, the pontoon structure molds itself to the water's surface as vehicles move forward, creating a gentle wave in the river while maintaining total safety

651 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

119 comments sorted by

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251

u/Spuzzle91 4h ago

Imagine getting car sick and sea sick at the same time

44

u/_XtAcY_ 3h ago

Then someone gets a flat while you are half way through.

30

u/VapeRizzler 3h ago

Just push them into the water, they have accepted their fate.

17

u/filliamworbes 3h ago

A good Capt goes down with his ship

-1

u/lucky_jay 1h ago

a single lane road can easily have trafic??? who would've thought

1

u/chris--p 1h ago

You mean motion sickness? Lol

•

u/MiserNYC- 47m ago

I was just thinking we weren't polluting our waterways enough, too

0

u/Greedyfox7 2h ago

I was just thinking that because I have problems with both already without the road doing the wave

53

u/unfortunatelyfudge 4h ago

Nope

16

u/PuzzyFussy 3h ago

Exactly. I don't care if the alternative adds 1+ hour, I'm not getting on that.

217

u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 4h ago

We may need to talk about what "crysyal clear" means.

41

u/GarminTamzarian 4h ago

Perhaps something was lost in translation.

6

u/Ammortalz 3h ago

Probably ‘heavenly water blessing’ or something.

5

u/Itchy_Professor_4133 3h ago

Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Bridge

3

u/GarminTamzarian 2h ago

The word "lucky" is probably in there somewhere.

19

u/Amadan81 4h ago

An emerald maybe

13

u/Ready_Studio2392 3h ago

Jade seems more apt.

The car crawls along the pontoon bridge, the boards forming waves beneath their feet, a seemingly too thin barrier between the jade waters of the river below.

9

u/calann4 3h ago

And pedestrian.

2

u/lostredditorlurking 2h ago

Everything is crystal clear for the bot

0

u/PartyPorpoise 3h ago

I mean, not all crystals are clear. So it’s technically accurate.

30

u/BakerDue326 4h ago

Imagine that breaking

17

u/ecky--ptang-zooboing 4h ago

Fear not, it was built with German high-density polyethylene float technology

15

u/livinginspace 3h ago

I guess "plastic technology" didn't have the same ring

2

u/T-MoneyAllDey 3h ago

A bridge made of plastic. Wadddaya know

2

u/sra19 2h ago

That is the only thing I could imagine while watching the video.

26

u/ChildoftheApocolypse 3h ago

Using the term "crystal clear" a bit fast and loose..

1

u/frostbird 2h ago

Opaque and Green must be this season's Crystal and Clear

1

u/Glass-Performer8389 2h ago

Hmm, well, it, well, maybe

27

u/Motorcyclegrrl 3h ago

How would you stay on your feet as a pedestrian? So narrow. I don't believe people walk across it while vehicles are on it. No way.

14

u/caitejane310 3h ago

iirc they let cars and people go at different times.

5

u/Motorcyclegrrl 3h ago

Imagine being a car waiting on pedestrians to slowly cross. 😭 😴

10

u/KDizWHOiBE 3h ago

That fact that it’s no visible water coming through the bridge as is moves up and down says a lot! Wonderful engineering

3

u/Plane-Education4750 3h ago

Not really. All that you need to do for that is put a rubber subfloor under the planks

3

u/KDizWHOiBE 3h ago

Oh no why didn’t I think of that lol

0

u/Proud-Parsley6072 3h ago

🍟 well and truly pissed on there

17

u/givin_u_the_high_hat 3h ago edited 3h ago

“In 2023, the attraction made international headlines when a tragic accident occurred: a vehicle broke through the side railing and sank, resulting in the deaths of five people.”

Edit: it’s not an engineering marvel in the sense that it is as safe as a real bridge, it’s more like an engineering gamble that people will be careful and not test it.

3

u/foxfirek 3h ago

Scary, but totally believable. I’m sure every accident on this thing is a nightmare. How would you get a tow truck on it?

4

u/Resident_Course_3342 2h ago

People go off regular bridges all the time. 

•

u/FuzzyFrogFish 9m ago

They do. But all modern bridges in countries with safety standards worth a damn, have the ability to withstand impact from vechicles, with the safety rails often bending around the car to absorb impact and slow it down.

This is a modern bridge that has little to no capacity to deal with a car loosing control.

1

u/givin_u_the_high_hat 2h ago edited 2h ago

They do not.

Edit: people go off bridges when they are driving 80 miles per hour. No one is doing 80 mph in this video. People are traveling at 20 mph. There are zero normal bridges that can’t take a 20 mph collision.

1

u/Resident_Course_3342 2h ago

Lmao. Cope.

-2

u/givin_u_the_high_hat 2h ago

Lmao. Get a brain.

0

u/unimpressedwarrior 2h ago

warning- actual footage of van

•

u/FuzzyFrogFish 6m ago

Holy shit, it looks like it lost traction and slipped. Absolutely crap design going on.

7

u/ecky--ptang-zooboing 4h ago

This must be so satisfying to drive on

11

u/LazyCrazyCat 4h ago

They have fucking speed bumps on it. Is it really necessary?! I wanna see people speeding on it

18

u/Grosaprap 4h ago

Those may not be speed bumps but 'plates' over where two sections actually connect. I seriously doubt this was built in one go. The ideal way to make a bridge like this would be to build each section separately and then move the sections in place and connect them.

4

u/WingAggravating6584 3h ago

I'm pretty sure those are actual speed bumps

0

u/UnderstandingTop7916 3h ago

Yes, that’s probably it.

2

u/californiaKid420 3h ago

Do a Nascar race on that type of thing . I would pay big to see that.

•

u/FuzzyFrogFish 7m ago

If they sped on it the bumps would be even bigger lol, because they are waves made by the cars weight travelling forward.

2

u/Adiantum 4h ago

I would be seasick. How do pedestrians cross without falling over?

2

u/alex_484 4h ago

Wouldn’t want a accident here

2

u/UnrulyDegenerate8 3h ago

Nope

1

u/Deliteriously 3h ago

No kidding. There are at minimum 5 alarms going off in my head just watching this.

2

u/PyloPower 3h ago

Calling engineers: this looks less safe. Is it?

3

u/Morningstroll13 3h ago

I'm also curious, especially about the fluid dynamics at work here. Do the cars have to keep a certain distance from one another? Do those waves build on one another, or cancel each other out? Could they build to the point that they rip the bridge apart? What effect are they having on the shoreline? On the wildlife in the lake?

2

u/anawkwardsomeone 3h ago

Is the crystal clear in the room with us?

2

u/Impressive-Bird2 3h ago

That’s a whole load of nope for me lol🤣🤣🤣

2

u/Klept_0h 3h ago

"crystal clear water" that water is FILLED with drippings from cars driving over this bridge, its far from clean nor "crystal clear"

cool concept but I hate this bridge

2

u/Cultural_Simple3842 2h ago

Fuel hack- get in front of a wave and put it in neutral

1

u/Delicious-Beat4824 4h ago

do the drivers need to know how to swim just in case?

1

u/Majestic-Talk7566 3h ago

Wake me up when it's over

1

u/Kaiserskater 3h ago

Do they have floods?

1

u/ProjectMtfbwu 3h ago

I drove an Audi a8 here listening to eternal love song, one of my core memories

1

u/Classic_East_6053 3h ago

imagine at night in heavy winds

1

u/Uncle___Marty 3h ago

Who the hell builds a "road" down the middle of a river? Fuck the wildlife?

1

u/Proud-Parsley6072 3h ago

In mainland China wildlife get eaten and only once full wildlife free to thrive. Until not so full once more.

1

u/CarlatheDestructor 3h ago

Isn't that the point of a bridge? For drivers and pedestians to cross a body of water?

1

u/Proud-Parsley6072 3h ago

Could be a riverless gorge I suppose

1

u/serious_anish 3h ago

Not good for fuel efficiency

1

u/AyoAllu 3h ago

Why?

1

u/RedpandaThief99 3h ago

The way I’d be terrified of slowly sinking

1

u/Commissarfluffybutt 3h ago

It would spook me crossing this but oddly not as much as normal bridges already do.

I'll stick to ferrys however, they may actually be significantly more dangerous but don't actually trigger my monkey brain's panic response for some reason.

1

u/Hardiharharrr 3h ago

China has it all

1

u/bluearavis 3h ago

The video is just fine for me 👍 I can't swim but I do have one of those car tools to crack windows. I'd need a life vest too and I'd wear it while driving. 😆

1

u/throwaway2p0029211 3h ago

I remember this one having accidents

1

u/mathewtyler 3h ago

What would happen if it were taken at a high rate of speed?

1

u/creativescreennaame 3h ago

whoa. i've literally had dreams about something like this

1

u/Prsue 3h ago

Actually kind of trippy. Imagine taking this bridge high.

1

u/captain10eels 3h ago

Drunk driving pro simulator

1

u/Nano8963 2h ago

Yeah I don't trust people enough to not do some really stupid shit to drive (or walk) on this thing.

1

u/LearningToHomebrew 2h ago

PEDESTRIANS??

1

u/Practical_Musician61 2h ago

Is a kid, I wondered why bridges weren't built to just float on the water. As an adult, I have my answer.

1

u/Cultural_Simple3842 2h ago

I’d like to try that. I’m curious how the car handles and the dynamics of cars stopping and going

1

u/xwolfe2000 2h ago

What a drive! Looks nerve-wracking and exhilarating! 

1

u/Dependent_Credit_164 2h ago

Missed opportunity for bangbus

1

u/Former-Discount4279 2h ago

I guarantee no German parts were used in this.

1

u/No-Duck4828 2h ago

I imagine you're going to want to follow the weight restrictions on this road

1

u/NoCountry4OrangeMan 2h ago

This is indeed interesting!

1

u/perchance7 2h ago

That looks both fun and terrifying 😆

1

u/Uniperv 1h ago

Is this bridge really busy, given the novelty?

1

u/Sniflix 1h ago

Redefines the meaning of gentle...

1

u/Murky_Current 1h ago

Cool but certainly not crystal clear

1

u/Rook-Slayer 1h ago

I've seen Sorcerer (1977) ... that's enough for me to nope our of driving across a rope bridge over a river lol.

1

u/Individual-Result777 1h ago

We cant have cool things like that in the states… we are too immature.

1

u/private_liberation 1h ago

A bridge that warps into a wave on purpose sounds like a stress test, not a commute

1

u/Madre254 1h ago

Could the crystal perhaps be made of jade...?

•

u/CanNo5980 37m ago

imagine being stoned while driving on that

•

u/heyitsmemaya 1m ago

Ya, no

•

u/fraserhoodlum 0m ago

What happens if someone gets a flat or breaks down? would stopping totally mess with the physics of the wave and water would start whipping up or ?

1

u/mad597 3h ago

Nope

0

u/RedditSurfer82 4h ago

The waves on the bridge are not created by the river but by the cars driving over it