International TaskForces – September

A tight squeeze for the Zetros: the Guoliang Tunnel Road in China was smashed out of the mountainside by just 13 workers. The surface of the track is pure mountain rock and the headroom is rarely greater than five metres, while the track is scarcely wider than four metres for the most part.

Before construction of the approximately 1.2-kilometre-long tunnel, the only thing linking the 1800-metre-high village of Guoliang to the rest of the world was a small, arduous beaten path with around 720 steps. The construction work for a roadway suitable for use by vehicles began in 1972 and lasted until 1977. 13 lonely workers from Guoliang wore out around 4000 hammers during the construction process in addition to handling twelve tonnes of steel. The hard-working tunnel builders received no help from the Chinese government – instead, they sold herbs and goats in order to raise the money needed to fund new building materials.

Click here to leave RoadStars and to find out more information within Google Maps: Map on Google Maps