CCTV/YouTube
The Chinese can be tremendously efficient at demolition.
On August 26, construction workers conducted a marathon project of destruction, bringing in 116 trucks to remove a 1,640-foot, two-lane overpass in the eastern city of Nanchang. The bulldozers lined up in two rows - one on either side of the road - and chipped away at the bridge in complete unison.
According to China's state broadcast network CCTV, the project started at 10:30pm, and the main structure of the overpass was demolished by the end of the night. The full demolition and removal process lasted just 56 hours, and the bridge was reopened to the public again on Monday morning, Reuters reported.
CCTV reports that the roadway was removed because of its narrowness - the upswing in car ownership in China has made it hard for bridges to accommodate enough traffic. The overpass also needed to be demolished to make way for a new subway system.
Watch the video from CCTV below:
This is not the first time Chinese construction crews have moved so rapidly. The state removed another bridge that was over 30 years old last November, replacing it in a mere 43 hours with a wider, pre-built one.
As China builds entirely new cities and puts hundreds of billions of dollars into creating metro systems, it's imperative for the country to have these efficient construction and demolition practices to keep up with the pace of development.