Recently, a consortium comprising China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd., China Design Group Co., Ltd., and JSTI Group successfully won the bid for the HT-SJ-1 section of the survey and design project for the Haitai Yangtze River Crossing. Once completed, the project will further improve the Yangtze River crossing system and achieve convenient connections between clusters on both banks.

On February 7 this year, the tender announcement for the survey and design of the Haitai Yangtze River Crossing was released, marking another major milestone following the launch of the project's feasibility study in May 2020 and the approval of the bridge-tunnel comparison and selection on November 26, 2020. The finalization of the survey and design unit has pushed the project a big step forward.

The Haitai Yangtze River Crossing is a combined highway-railway river crossing and one of the river crossings that the National Development and Reform Commission has recently prioritized for implementation. Its highway portion is an important component of the Nantong-Changshu Expressway (S13), and its railway portion is the river-crossing facility of the Nantong-Suzhou-Huzhou Intercity Railway.

The project starts from the Haimen-Tongzhou section of the Nantong-Wuxi Expressway (S19) currently under construction, runs along the west side of the planned Nantong New Airport, intersects with the Shanghai-Shaanxi Expressway (G40) and the Nanjing-Qidong Railway in the northwest direction of Haimen District, crosses the Yangtze River southward, and ends at the Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway (G4221), with a total route length of approximately 58.2 km. The connecting roads adopt a six-lane expressway standard, with a design speed of 120 km/h and a subgrade width of 34.5 m. The entire line has 8 interchanges, including 3 hub-type interchanges and 5 entry-exit interchanges.

The highway river-crossing tunnel of the project has a total length of approximately 11.2 km, including a 9.2 km shield-driven section. The tunnel has a cross-section diameter of up to 16 m, a water pressure of up to 0.75 MPa, and an overburden depth of 40 m, featuring "long, large, high, and deep" characteristics. As an important river-crossing facility of the Tongzhou-Changshu Expressway and the Nantong-Suzhou-Huzhou Railway, the construction of the Haitai Yangtze River Crossing is of great significance for improving the regional comprehensive transportation network and addressing shortcomings in river-crossing travel. It is also needed to help the province further improve its provincial transportation infrastructure network and support integrated provincial development. At the same time, as a north-south collection and distribution corridor for the Nantong New Airport, the Tongzhou Bay Port Area, and the riverside port areas, the project will effectively support the coordinated development of these hubs and form integrated operations among river ports, seaports, and airports. The title of "First Tunnel of the Yangtze River" is well deserved.