File Under: Vertigo

In 1996, Las Vegas businessman David Jin dreamed up the idea of "walking out over the Grand Canyon and staring 4,000 feet down into the Colorado River -- while standing on four inches of glass." On January 1, believe it or not, it will become a reality.


Image from MRJ Architects

The horseshoe-shaped walkway that juts 70-feet out into the canyon is "part of the Hualapai Tribe's $40 million effort to turn 1,000 acres of reservation land into a tourist destination that will also feature an Indian village and Western-themed town."


Image from MRJ Architects

Regardless of the questionable nature of the walkway and the theme park (ideas actually opposed by about half the tribe's elders initially), it is quite a feat of engineering. It is designed, with the help of Lochsa Engineering, to support 72 million pounds, to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered 50 miles away, and to withstand winds in excess of 100 mph.

But will people spend $25 to feel their stomachs in their mouths? We won't know until Grand Canyon Resort Corp., the tribal-owned company that is overseeing the project, finds an insurer for the project, probably not an easy task.

(Thanks to Eric M. for the head's up)