On July 23, amid on-site commands of "move forward half a centimeter, lower, lower, lower... good! Success!", the first T-beam of Dazhuang Bridge in the Shijiazhuang section of Xifu Expressway was successfully put in place.
Dazhuang Bridge in the Shijiazhuang section of Xifu Expressway, constructed by China Construction Road & Bridge Group Co., Ltd., is a schedule-critical control project for the Shijiazhuang section of Xifu Expressway. The bridge has a total length of 528.5 meters. Its substructure mainly includes tie beams, pier columns and bent caps; its superstructure consists of 65 40-meter T-beams.
At 8:30 a.m. that day, after a journey of more than two hours, the beam transport vehicle smoothly and safely delivered the 40-meter T-beam from the beam yard to the launching gantry at the side span of Dazhuang Bridge and accurately aligned it with the gantry. Under the precise command of the on-site personnel, the 40-meter T-beam rose slowly under the traction of the beam launching machine—lifting, moving and lowering the beam—and at 11:58 it was smoothly and precisely placed on the predetermined pier bearing, completing the erection of the first T-beam.
The erection of the first T-beam marks that Dazhuang Bridge in the Shijiazhuang section of Xifu Expressway has successfully broken through the stage constrained by the substructure and formally entered superstructure construction. After the T-beam erection for this bridge is completed, it will directly open up the Luanleng Bridge, Beiao Bridge, Changxinggou No. 1 Bridge, Changxinggou No. 2 Bridge and the subgrade breakpoints in the Shijiazhuang section of Xifu Expressway, forming about 4 kilometers of construction access roads. This avoids the detour onto the heavily congested National Highway 207 when transporting T-beams from the No. 2 precasting yard, establishes a guarantee for 24-hour bridge construction, ensures that construction progress remains under control, and lays a solid foundation for achieving the goal of opening to traffic by the end of 2018.