All concrete slabs were installed in the upper deck of the Huanggang Road Yellow River Tunnel in Jinan, the capital of East China’s Shandong Province, on March 17. This marks the successful double-deck breakthrough of the world’s largest-diameter underwater shield tunnel, which is built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited.
Construction work is ongoing on the Huanggang Road Yellow River Tunnel. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The tunnel is a landmark project in Jinan’s endeavor to promote environmental protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin.
Nearly 3.3 kilometers of the 5.75-km tunnel have been excavated by a 17.5-meter-diameter shield tunneling machine. The tunnel adopts a single-bore, double-deck configuration, which is the first one constructed beneath the Yellow River, with six lanes arranged across the upper and lower levels and a designed speed of 60 km/h. Such a single tunnel bore is capable of delivering the traffic capacity of two conventional tunnels. The tunnel’s 4.2-meter height leaves enough space to accommodate buses, firefighting and emergency rescue vehicles.
The construction work demands the use of advanced techniques and meticulous coordination of work procedures. In response, the construction team of China Railway 14th Bureau Group Corporation Limited employed 12 hydraulic automatic walking trolleys and adopted module-based designs. The trolleys simultaneously performed different tasks, such as steel bar colligation, module installation and concrete placement and care, thus enhancing the construction efficiency.
Once completed and open to traffic, the tunnel will connect Jinan’s urban area and start-up area, reducing the travel time between the two sides from 40 minutes to 4 minutes.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
