The glass-bottomed bridge of Zhangjiajie City, in central China’s Hunan Province, was awarded the Arthur G. Hayden Medal at the International Bridge Conference on June 12, Xinhua News reported.

Sponsors of the conference noted that the bridge provides a solution to connect culture and nature, and demonstrates both innovation and imagination.

The bridge is 430 meters long and 6 meters wide, with a glass-bottom walkway suspended 300 meters above the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon at Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. It offers people the incredible feeling of walking in the air.

Comprising of 99 panes of three-layer transparent glass, the bridge set many world records for design and construction.

Other Chinese bridges including the Wuhu second Yangtze River highway bridge, Beipanjiang Bridge and the Yachihe Bridge all gained awards at the conference, along with Chinese bridge designer Xu Gongyi.

More and more Chinese bridges have won global recognition in recent years, with growing innovative awareness and ability of Chinese bridge engineers, said Helena Russell, a judge at the event.

Since 2003, the medal has been awarded annually to demonstrate innovation in special use bridges such as pedestrian, people-mover and non-traditional structures.