The website ibtimes is reporting that China has begun construction on what it claims will be the longest and tallest glass-bottom bridge in the world. The bridge will be suspended across Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in Hunans scenic Zhangjiajie National Park, which has claims to have inspired visuals for James Camerons 2009 film Avatar.

An investor founded Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Co to carry out the project and is putting a total of around 250m yuan (£25.4m, $39m) into the bridges construction. Israeli Haim Dotan, who designed the Expo 2010 Shanghais Israel Pavilion, is the chief architect behind the project and China Construction Group, which has been hired for the bridges construction, began work in June this year.

When completed, project engineers say the bridge will be 984ft above ground and 1411ft in length. The bridge itself will be six metres wide, with several glass observatories at various ends. Each glass panel of the walkway will be 1.9in thick.

Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge will allow tourists to enjoy the view, and it also has the capability to allow them to go bungee jumping. It will be the worlds first tallest and longest suspension glass-bottomed bridge, said project manager, Guo Kun.

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Construction comes amid troubling concerns over the boom in creating China’s glass bridges.