High-rise construction can be a high adrenalin business. But few ventures are likely to set the pulse racing as fast as the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which is nearing completion 4,000 feet above the canyon floor in Arizona.
A steel walkway, with walls and floor of glass, will just 70 feet over the edge of the Grand Canyon, giving tourists a breathtaking view of the Hualapai Indian Reservation, 1200 metres below.
Following the opening of the Skywalk on 20th March, tourists paying $25 each will be able to inch along the 500-ton structure wearing special slippers to protect the glass.
Mark Johnson, the architect of the protuberance, says that the structure is built to withstand winds of 100 mph, and will hold several hundred people simultaneously without bending.
The project has been created by David Jin, an investor originally from Shanghai, who bankrolled the venture with $30 million of his own money.
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