Mexico sets record for highest suspension bridge

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Mexico City: Mexico has set a new Guinness record for the world`s highest suspension bridge.

President Felipe Calderon Thursday received the honour bestowed on the Baluarte Bicentennial Bridge, which is supported by 152 steel suspenders, has a central, cable-stayed span of 520 metres, a total length of 1,124 metres and a width of 19.8 metres.

Built at a world-record structural height of 403.4 metres, its four lanes extend over a stretch of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range known as the "Devil`s Backbone", which links Durango and the neighbouring coastal state of Sinaloa.

The bridge is part of the Durango-Mazatlan highway, built at a cost of more than 20 billion pesos (around $1.5 billion).

IANS