Vietnam’s first glass-bottomed suspension bridge with 5D effects will open in the northern province of Son La on April 25, just in time to welcome visitors during a days-long holiday that begins this weekend.

Workers are racing against the clock to complete the very last steps of construction of the transparent pedestrian bridge at the Dai Yem Waterfall, a tourist attraction in mountainous Moc Chau District.

Public workers in Vietnam will enjoy a five-day holiday starting this Saturday to celebrate Reunification Day on April 30 and International Workers’ Day on May 1.

Pha Luong Co., the developer of the 5D-effect glass bridge in Moc Chau, can now reassure their structure will not miss the chance to receive tourists during one of the country’s main public holidays.

The Vietnam-made structure, measuring nearly 100 meters long, two meters wide and standing 22 meters tall, boasts the world’s state-of-the-art 5D technology with 30 special effects - including nerve-jangling glass cracking, heart forming, flower opening and fish swimming - and a photoelectric sensor system, according to the developer.

The bridge alone costs VND32-35 billion (US$1.3-1.5 million) to build and the total expense could amount to VND40 billion ($1.7 million) if additional structures are to be taken into account, Pha Luong deputy director Dinh Hong Phuc said.

The idea of the structure was conceived for more than two years but the project’s contractor – Queen Viet Company – only had four months to assemble it from steel and bullet-proof glass, according to the company’s general director Nguyen Manh Cuong.

Particularly, the bridge, called ‘Love Glass Bridge,’ has ten towering heart-shaped structures on a pillar with ten lotus petals.

Its bridge piers are made from 54,000 colored glass pieces, symbolizing 54 Vietnamese ethnic groups.

The walkway is formed by three 15mm reinforced glass panels, each of which can bear a strength of eight metric tons per square meter, attached together from two glue layers.

The total loading capacity of the bridge is about 60 metric tons, or the combined weight of 50-70 people, and its safety is guaranteed given considerations from geological surveys and the walkway’s weight, according to Cuong.

“We chose Moc Chau to build this bridge for its mountainous landscape with great potential for tourism development,” he said.

“The bridge will serve as a connecton between tourist destinations in Moc Chau in particular, and in Son La in general.”

Tickets reportedly fetch VND100,000 (US$4.3) per person.

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