Mexico: Baluarte bridge officially world’s tallest (VIDEO)

Mexico's new Baluarte suspension bridge is officially the world's tallest, according to Guinness World Records.

President Felipe Calderon inaugurated the 1,322-foot (403-meter) high bridge yesterday, the BBC reported, in a ceremony at which Guinness officials pronounced the bridge officially the tallest yet built.

The hanging structure is so high that the Eiffel Tower – at 986 feet, or 300 meters – could easily fit under it.

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Baluarte crosses a deep ravine in Mexico's northern Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, and will ultimately form part of a new highway leading all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The first part of the highway will replace winding roads from Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast to Durango in the interior, making the journey between them six hours quicker.

President Calderon said:

"This project will unite the people of northern Mexico as never before."

The government hopes the project will create jobs and attract tourists, but critics say that it will serve as a "superhighway" for drug traffickers when it opens later this year, Al Jazeera reported.