Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge Shut Down After 13 Days
 2016-12-20 18:04:20  

If you were planning to make the trek like thousands of others to walk on the glass bridge over Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, you may want to rethink your travel plans. After opening on August 20th, the record-breaking structure will close 13 days after its opening. The reason? Too many people are interested in checking out the vertigo-inducing attraction.

The bridge, which stretches 1,410 feet between two mountains in Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Scenic area, is only able to handle 8,000 visitors per day. But, According to a spokesperson from the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon's marketing and sales department, ten times as many people are showing up.“We're overwhelmed by the volume of visitors" the representative told CNN.

The official announcement was made on Thursday via Weibo, saying there was an "Urgency to improve and update" the facility and that the bridge would be closed starting September 2nd. There was no indication as to when it would reopen.

The closure begs the question if there was safety concern. There was some hesitation from the public about whether the bridge could withstand the pressure after a glass-bottomed bridge in Shiniuzhai National Geological Park cracked while tourists snapped pictures.

Officials said that "There was no problem" with the bridge in Zhangjiajie, and confirmed that there had not been any accidents.

The 20-foot wide bridge has set ten world records, including the world's highest and longest glass bridge, and sits 984 feet above the valley floor, whose scenery was said to have inspired the movie Avatar.

Source: cntraveler