The world’s longest urban escalator has just opened, and of course it’s in Chongqing

Chongqing is the city of records. In addition to being famous for its mountainous terrain and extremely high population density, it boasts a number of distinctly distinctive architectural and infrastructural projects: the world's deepest subway station, arailway line suspended between two residential buildings, a skyline dotted with ultra-modern buildings such as the "Horizontal skyscraper" by Safdie Architects and one of the steepest escalators in Asia, the 112-meter-long and 53-meter-high "Crown Grand Escalator."

Even this record, however, has now been surpassed by a new infrastructure that once again addresses the relationship between urban mobility and mountainous terrain. The Wushan Goddess Escalator is a system of escalators that runs for nearly a kilometer along the city’s slope. It is currently considered the longest outdoor urban escalator in the world and one of the most ambitious vertical transport systems ever implemented in such a topographically complex urban environment.

Recently inaugurated, the installation runs through Wushan County along the vertical axis of Goddess Avenue, a key connection between the neighborhoods built near the Yangtze River and those located on the mountain slopes. With a total length of around 905 meters and an elevation gain of more than 240 meters—the equivalent of an approximately 80-story building—this three-dimensional pedestrian mobility system consists of 21 escalators, 8 elevators, 4 moving walkways, two pedestrian bridges, and two elevated crossings that accompany the route along the mountainside, effectively forming a backbone of mobility for a city built across multiple levels.

In fact, if before its construction moving from the lower to the upper part required about an hour's walk along steep paths, thanks to this new intervention the travel time has been reduced to about 20 minutes. In addition, beyond the simple transportation function, the entire infrastructure was designed to take on a landscape dimension as well. Viewpoints and observation platforms have been inserted along the route, while glazed facades and lightweight structures help reduce its visual impact on its surroundings, keeping the view open to the region's famous Three Gorges, the mountain peaks with which the goddess Yaoji, a mythological figure after whom the work is named, is associated.

The "Wushan Goddess Escalator" is thus part of a genealogy of architectures that transform the slope into habitable space, reflecting a recurring strategy in Chinese cities built on multiple levels: not leveling the territory, but equipping it with vertical mobility devices that help reformulate its perception and redefine its layout. 

Opening image: Wushan Goddess Escalator, Wushan County, China