The huge Hongqi Bridge in China’s Sichuan province, touted as a major achievement in China’s infrastructure boom, collapsed into the river it once spanned on Tuesday.

Fortunately, local officials noticed ominous cracks in the 2,500-foot span on Monday and closed it to traffic, so there were no casualties reported when it came down.

The Hongqi Bridge was completed in January as part of an ambitious program to improve the G317 national highway, which leads from Sichuan to Tibet. Construction was handled by a Chinese state-backed firm called Sichuan Road & Bridge Group.

The mountainous region where the bridge was located is seismically active, and experienced a devastating earthquake in 2008 that killed almost 70,000 people.

The bridge was only open to traffic for a few

See Full Page