At 11:28 on December 27, after nearly 20 hours of continuous work, the final segment of the south main tower column of the Wuhan Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge—the world's longest-span double-deck suspension bridge, built by Wuhan Urban Construction Investment Group, designed by China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute, and constructed by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group—was successfully poured and capped. With this, following the capping of the north main tower on November 21, both the north and south main towers of the bridge have been capped, marking the bridge's full transition to superstructure construction.
　　The Wuhan Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge is a double-tower, double-deck steel truss girder highway suspension bridge that crosses the Yangtze River in a single 1,700-meter span. It is also the first double-deck highway bridge over the Yangtze River and, once completed, will become the world's longest-span double-deck suspension bridge. The bridge has a total length of 4.13 kilometers. The upper deck carries an urban expressway with three lanes in each direction, while the lower deck carries an urban arterial road with two lanes in each direction, flanked on both sides by non-motorized vehicle lanes, pedestrian walkways, and pedestrian sightseeing rest areas.
　　The bridge is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2019. Once completed, it will be the world's most multifunctional bridge, connecting the Baisha area of Wuchang and the Sixin area of Hanyang. It will greatly improve Wuhan's urban expressway skeleton system, ease traffic pressure across the river, drive the development of new districts, and optimize the city's spatial layout. 　　The south main tower column, located near Wujindi on Batan Road in Wuchang, is 241.2 meters high, equivalent to more than 80 stories. Li Yongqi, project manager for the south bank of the Yangsigang Bridge at China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, explained that unlike the north main tower, which stands on the bank, the south main tower's caisson foundation—the size of eight basketball courts—is located in the water and had to pass through nearly 10 meters of hard clay, making it more time-consuming; its schedule lagged three months behind the north bank. 　　To ensure the schedule and achieve fast, high-quality construction, the south main tower adopted a hydraulic climbing formwork system that climbs rapidly and synchronously on all four sides, achieving a daily "growth" of nearly 1 meter. In 300 days it climbed 241.2 meters, setting the fastest climbing speed for tower columns of a comparable suspension bridge. The schedule was two months ahead of the plan set at the beginning of the year, meaning the bridge construction will be completed two months early.
　　The builders from China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group also overcame major challenges such as the construction of C60 high-strength concrete for the main tower, applying high standards and strict requirements to every stage—rebar, formwork, concrete pouring, formwork removal, and curing—to ensure the tower column concrete was "solid inside and beautiful outside."
　　It is reported that the main towers are the load-bearing components. With both main towers capped, the bridge will enter superstructure construction. Next, the pilot cable will cross the river, the traction system will be installed, and the catwalk, main cables, and suspenders will be erected. Main cable erection is expected to begin on May 1 next year, and girder erection is expected to begin on October 1 next year. At present, the steel truss girder of the bridge has already begun factory prefabrication. Superstructure construction is also being stepped up on the Wuchang-side approach bridge.