Da Nang inaugurates bridges and record cable car routes The Rong (Dragon) Bridge is inaugurated today. VNA/VNS Photo DA NANG (VNS) – The central city officially inaugurated two new bridges over the Han River today – the Rong (Dragon) Bridge and Tran Thi Ly Bridge – to mark the 38th anniversary of the city's Liberation Day. "Da Nang has achieved rapid development since the city was librated in 1975," Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the opening ceremony for the VND3.5 trillion (US$167 million) bridges. The city's people's committee chairman Van Huu Chien added that the new bridges would help ease traffic congestion in the city. They would also help "boost economic development in the central region and the Central Highlands" besides adding to the East-West Economic Corridor linking Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Viet Nam. The six-lane Rong Bridge, 666m long and 36m wide, was designed in the shape of a dragon flying to the sea. Water sprays from the head as if the dragon were breathing fire. The city's department of transport registered the Rong Bridge as a World Record. The Tran Thi Ly Bridge, 731m long and 34.5m wide, also features a distinctive shape: a sail ballooning in the wind. The bridge has a single inclined pylon, at the top of which is a viewing platform accessible to the public. The Ba Na Hills Mountain Resort opened a new cable car route on the same day. The resort's third cable car route, it already has four Guinness World records to its credit. It is the longest one-line cable car in the world (5,771.61m), the cable car with the farthest height difference between departure and destination (1,368.93m), the longest non-stop cable car (11,585m) and the world's heaviest cable car (141.24 tonnes). The US$39 million car system will be able to transport 1,500 passengers each hour. It will take visitors 17 minutes to reach the top of the mountain. In 2009, Ba Na Hills opened its first cable car route, setting world records for the longest and highest non-stop cable car system. - VNS