Construction has begun on the Soaring Eagle Zip Line at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, and it is set to open by the end of April.

The 700-foot zip line will launch from the deck south of Pizza and Sub in the park and run parallel to the Royal Gorge, below the Aerial Tram to a ridge north of the Visitors’ Center.

Park visitors will be harnessed into a chair for the four-minute ride, Bridge and Park General Manager Mike Bandera said. They will zip backwards from the launch area and then be electronically returned back. Each chair can hold two people, and there will be two lines side-by-side so up to four people can ride at a time.

“It is the highest zip line in the world,” Bandera said, of the line, which runs at 1,100 feet above the canyon floor.

Like the Royal Rush Skycoaster, the zip line will be an additional charge over the park’s entry fee. It will cost $25 per person, $22.50 for two or $20 a piece for three or four people. The park also will offer a high altitude ride package that will be $20 for park entry, $20 for the skycoaster and $20 for the zip line, a total savings of about $16, Bandera said.

“We’ve been talking zip line since 2005,” Bandera said.

He said what held up the process was negotiating the air rights, which are owned by the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, to take the line all the way across the Royal Gorge. Park officials decided to give up that plan and take the line along the side of canyon.

“You’re flying over the Royal Gorge, but not across it,” Bandera said.

The zip line was designed and is being built by Soaring Eagle Zip Line Company out of Logan, Utah.

“We hired a local engineer to double check everything,” Bandera said.

New footings have been installed below the launch deck, and the lines will be anchored with cables drilled into the bedrock.