Gargantuan: The Xingkang Bridge, situated in Sichuan Province in south-west China, is expected to complete in 2018
Innovative method: Workers used a drone to carry the pilot cable over the river before installing steel cables last December
The drone is '100 times more efficient' than the traditional method, which is to use a boat, a helicopter or a mini rocket
This was the second time workers had used a drone to lead a pilot cable. The first time was on Longjiang Bridge in Yunnan
The bridge, which costs one billion yuan (£117 million) to construct, is situated over a dangerous terrain. It crosses the fast-flowing Dadu River and is built above a valley on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in south-west China's Sichuan Province.
XINGKANG BRIDGE: KEY STATISTICS
Length: 4,629 feet (1,411 metres)
Span: 3,608 feet (1,100 metres)
Weight: 30,000 tonnes
Number of cables: 34,034
Mast height: 617 feet (188 metres)
Last December, workers started putting cables on the mega structure. On April 5, the first main cable backstay of the bridge was installed, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Spanning 1,100 meters, the cable backstay is at least 269 meters (880 feet) above the Dadu River.
The speedy construction process is brought to reality thanks to an innovation method workers have used.
The video captured the moment how workers used a six propeller drone to carry a pilot cable from one side of the bridge in Kangding County to the other in Ya'an City. It took the drone three minutes to get to the other side.
The pilot cable, with a diametre of just two millimetres, was barely visible. However the thin thread, weighing 6.6 pounds (3kg), played a vital role in cable laying.
After the pilot cable reached the other side of the valley, workers attached a thicker cable to the end of the pilot rope and pulled the thicker rope over.
They repeated the process a number of times and increased the thickness of the rope each time until the rope had the strength to carry the weight of a bridge cable, which had a diameter of 54 milimetres.
On April 5, the first main cable backstay of the Xingkang Bridge was installed as workers carefully balanced on the structure
The bridge, which costs one billion yuan (£117 million) to construct, is situated over a dangerous terrain in south-west China
The suspension bridge is scheduled for completion in August 2018 and will have four lanes of traffic in each direction
According to the bridge's chief engineer Tang Zhongbo, using a drone to lead the pilot cable has saved the team significant amount of time.
Mr Tang told Sichuan Daily that a drone is '100 times more efficient' than the traditional method, which is to use a boat, a manned helicopter or a mini rocket. Furthermore, by using a drone, the workers could control where the pilot cable landed more precisely, according to Mr Tang.
The construction team also saved more than 80 per cent of the cost in laying the pilot cable, said Xu Guoting, a manager from the Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, in an interview with China Central Television Station.
The Xingkang Bridge has two cable backstays, each of them comprising 187 steel ropes. Each of the 187 ropes are made with 91 steel cables.
The installing of the first backstay this week marked the beginning of the construction of the main structure.
The Xingkang bridge, located in Luding Bridge, is a part of an expressway that links Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan Basin
Some 34,034 cables will be used in the construction, with the total length reaching 37,282 miles if laid along in a single line
The installing of the first backstay marked the beginning of the construction of the main structure of Xingkang Bridge
The Xingkang bridge is a part of an expressway that links Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan Basin.
The suspension bridge is scheduled for completion in August 2018. It will have a dual carriageway with four lanes of traffic in each direction allowing the vehicles to travel at 49.7 mph (80kmh).
Some 34,034 cables will be used in the construction, with the total length reaching 37,282 miles (60,000 kilometers) if all the cables were laid along in a single line.
China has built a number of remarkable bridges in the recent years, and most of them are located in remote parts of the country.
Eight of the world's 10 highest completed bridges are in China, according to highestbridges.com. Among the top ten, the other two bridges are in Papua New Guinea and Mexico.
SKY IS THE LIMIT: THE WORLD'S TOP 10 HIGHEST BRIDGES (IN FEET)
1. Beipanjiang Bridge Duge, China 1,854 feet (2016)