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What is being billed as one of the newest architectural wonders of the world was to be unveiled here later Tuesday when a gleaming glass-bottomed walkway jutting out over the edge of the Grand Canyon welcomes its first visitors.

A member of the Hualapai Indian Tribe looks at the Skywalk(L)
© AFP/LVNB-HO/File Brian Jones

The Skywalk, a horse-shoe shaped observation deck extending 70 feet over the western lip of the vast chasm in the Hualapai Indian Reservation, about 120 miles east of Las Vegas, will carry tourists who will be able to peer straight down 4,000-feet to the canyon floor below.

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Hualapai tribal leaders will be among the first to venture out onto the walkway at a 12:00 pm (1900 GMT) opening ceremony. Architects say the structure is capable of supporting several hundred people simultaneously and will not be affected by powerful winds that often roar through the Grand Canyon.

Weighing around 500 tonnes, the walkway is constructed with four inch thick glass and is supported by massive steel bolts that have been driven 46 feet into surrounding bedrock. Giant shock absorbers will also prevent the structure from quivering under the weight of visitors, architects say.

The project, which took two years to complete, is the latest example of Native American tribes seeking to generate income through tourism. The Hualapai are hoping that the Skywalk will persuade visitors to come to their remote section of the Grand Canyon, which previously struggled to lure tourists with its Old West-style villages and tours.

A view of the Skywalk
© AFP/LVNB-HO/File Brian Jones

The Skywalk was dreamed up by Shanghai-born businessman David Jin. The Las Vegas-based investor is reported to have bankrolled construction of the 30 million dollar project and under a deal with the Hualapai will collect up to half of the revenues from ticket sales over the next 25 years to recoup his investment.

Tickets for the Skywalk, which opens to the public on March 28, will cost around 25 dollars.

But construction of the project has been criticised by some Hualapai members and environmentalists, who have said the tourist attraction has been built on sacred ground.

"We have disturbed the ground," said Dolores Honga, 70. "Our people died right there. It's spiritual ground."

Environmentalist Kieran Suckling, of the Center for Bio-Diversity, meanwhile complained about the creation of a gleaming architectural marvel on the site of one of the natural wonders of the world.

"The Eiffel Tower is an architectural wonder," he told CNN. "But do I want the Eiffel Tower on the edge of the Grand Canyon? No."

Sheri Yellowhawk, a Hualapai tribal councilwoman who has been closely involved with the development of the project, defended the Skywalk. "Our people have suffered poverty and unemployment for years. I don't think we can be criticised for wanting to change that," she said.

©AFP

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