As one of the major projects for expanding effective investment across the province, the main construction of the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel Project in Hangzhou has officially commenced recently.
The Hangzhou Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel Project is located between the Third Qiantang River Bridge (Xixing Bridge) and the Fourth Qiantang River Bridge (Fuxing Bridge). It starts from Wangjiang Road in Shangcheng District in the north, passes under the Qiantang River, and connects to Jianghui Road in Binjiang District in the south.
The project has a total investment of nearly 2.5 billion yuan and is designed as a newly built urban arterial road. The tunnel has a total length of 3,240 meters, of which the enclosed section is about 2,905 meters long (including a shield-driven section of 1,830 meters). The main line of the tunnel has four lanes in both directions, with a design speed of 60 km/h, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019.
Because the running tunnel of Metro Line 4 passes beneath the northern exit of the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel Project, Metro Line 4 can only pass smoothly after the northern exit is completed. For this reason, construction of the northern exit of the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel started at the end of 2014, and the TRD steel-reinforced cement-soil continuous wall method was used for the first time in a municipal project. To date, construction of the section crossing over the metro, the relocation and modification of Xintang River, and the restoration of the traffic road surface on Fuchun Road have been completed, providing favorable conditions for Metro Line 4 to pass underneath. The northern exit project is scheduled to be completed in April 2016.
Unlike the construction of the northern exit of the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel, preliminary surveys for the main project found adverse geological conditions in some sections, such as dumped rock, hidden ponds, and biogas. To improve the major risk control system of the project, Hangzhou Qianjiang New City Investment Group Co., Ltd. hired 15 experts from across the country to form an advisory group to provide expert think-tank services for the Wangjiang Road Tunnel. Advanced large-diameter shield construction technology was adopted, and the shield machine will be selected, developed, and modified according to the special geological conditions of the Qiantang River.
After completion, the Hangzhou Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel will help improve the transportation system from Qianjiang New City across the river to Binjiang District, divert traffic pressure from the existing Third and Fourth Qiantang River Bridges, better leverage the traffic benefits of Phase IV of Qiushi Road, and further improve travel conditions for residents on both sides of the connecting roads.
In the future, residents traveling from Qianjiang New City to Binjiang District will be able to use the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel in addition to the Third Qiantang River Bridge, the Fourth Qiantang River Bridge, and the Qingchun Road Cross-River Tunnel. The drive is expected to take about 5 minutes, greatly shortening the distance between Qianjiang New City and Binjiang District and also helping ease traffic pressure for the 2022 Asian Games.
In fact, the term "Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel" has frequently appeared at Hangzhou's "Two Sessions" in recent years. Municipal People's Congress deputies and Municipal CPPCC members have proposed in motions and proposals implementing the Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel Project to alleviate the problem of "difficulty in crossing the river."
The Wangjiang Road Cross-River Tunnel Project was listed as a provincial key project in 2015 and was officially approved on August 7. With the support of relevant provincial and municipal functional departments, including the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, the Provincial Bidding Office, the Municipal Construction Commission, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Land Bureau, the Municipal Planning Bureau, the Municipal Public Security Traffic Police Bureau, and the Municipal Public Security Fire Bureau, the Binjiang District Government and Qianjiang New City Investment Group worked with the design unit in an unconventional manner and completed the preliminary technical work and approval procedures in just a few months, creating a new speed for efficiently advancing major projects.