The collapse of a bridge on the Xiarong Expressway raises questions about design safety, risk assessments, and chronic underfunding in landslide-prone regions.

June 24: A record rain-triggered landslide destroyed a section of the Houzihé Grand Bridge on Guizhou’s Xiarong Expressway (G76), toppling support columns, stranding a truck mid-collapse, and forcing more than 80,000 evacuations amid regional floods, raising urgent concerns about slope management and infrastructure vulnerability to extreme weather in landslide-prone terrain.

As investigations remain underway, the bridge collapse was initially attributed to landslides induced by prolonged heavy rainfall. At the time of the incident, 255.9mm of precipitation within 24 hours had been recorded in the area—a historic high. Nearby villagers also reported continuous rainfall in the ten days prior to the incident. 

This X post shows a cargo truck in distress and describes the bridge as “tofu-dreg” (a phrase used to describe poorly constructed buildings and infrastructure, coined by Zhu Rongji in 1988 during a tour of flood dykes on the Yangtze River that resembled the flimsy, porous quality of tofu dregs).

Completed in 2016, the Houzihé Grand Bridge spans 800 meters in length with a maximum pier height of 106 meters. Constructed in geologically complex mountainous terrain, the bridge collapse has led to speculation over whether proper geological risk assessments and landslide mitigation measures were integrated into the bridge’s design, with netizens pointing to shallow foundation depths in bedrock and debris flow impacts as likely causes. While construction quality remains unconfirmed, concerns persist about chronic underfunding in Guizhou Province, raising doubts about long-term infrastructure maintenance, slope stabilization, and repair protocols.

According to one report, the landslide’s failure zone aligns with a road that cuts across a hillside, prompting scrutiny over potential fill slopes and inadequate drainage. The report highlights the collapse of vulnerable bridge piers—mirrored in similar expressway designs—as a systemic risk in managing slopes adjacent to critical infrastructure, despite their exclusion from original projects. [See: The 24 June 2025 Landslide at Houzihé Grand Bridge in Guizhou, China].