The Dingyuan-Changfeng section of the Chuzhou-Huainan Expressway, currently under construction, recently achieved a key control node—the overpass bridge across the Huainan Railway was successfully closed, laying a solid foundation for the scheduled completion and opening to traffic in 2018.
The Dingyuan-Changfeng section of the Chuzhou-Huainan Expressway is a segment of the S12 Chuzhou-Xincai Expressway, the "Horizontal Line 4" of the province's planned "Four Vertical and Eight Horizontal" expressway network. It is a faster eastbound corridor for cities such as Fuyang, Huainan, and Chuzhou, and also a new expressway corridor for vehicles from provinces such as Shaanxi and Henan traveling to the Yangtze River Delta region.
The overpass bridge across the Huainan Railway is the most important control project in the construction of this project. The Huainan Railway is an important coal transport corridor in the province and is extremely busy. How to minimize the impact of construction on railway traffic was the biggest challenge facing the project. To this end, the project took the lead in the province in adopting a joint highway-railway construction method, with Anhui Highway and Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd. as the lead party, forming a consortium with China Railway 24th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. to jointly undertake the construction. During construction, a scheme of erecting bridge spans on the left and right sides simultaneously was adopted, greatly shortening the normal 15-day erection period to 4 days, and setting a provincial record for the fastest construction by erecting four bridge girder slabs within 80 minutes. Throughout the bridge construction process, the railway traffic interruption time due to construction was reduced by 73% compared with traditional methods, effectively ensuring railway safety operations while achieving rapid construction.