Mexico opens bridge among world's highest

Look out, bungee jumpers of the world. Mexico opened a new bridge that Guinness officials have named one of the world's highest.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon officially opened the Baluarte Bridge in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains Thursday, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. With a 1,321-foot drop from its deck to the bottom of the Baluarte River beneath, the span was named by Guinness World Records as the world's highest cable-stayed bridge.

According to the BBC, Baluarte stole its record from France's Millau Viaduct, which Guinness says remains the world's tallest, stretching 1,125 feet from top to bottom.

The Mexican span wasn't able to claim the record of being the world's highest bridge. According to the Guinness website, that honor remains with China's Si Du River Bridge in the Hubei province with a deck 1,549 feet off the ground.

The difference between the two bridges is that the Eiffel Tower could fit underneath the Baluarte Bridge but not the Empire State Building, which the Si Du River Bridge would cover.

The Baluarte Bridge isn't expected to open to traffic until later this year. The Reuters news service reported that construction began on the bridge in February 2008 and cost hundreds of millions to complete.