On July 30, the Wujiagang Yangtze River Bridge in Yichang, Hubei Province, opened to traffic. It is understood that this is China's first bridge to adopt ultra-high-altitude limited-position 'crown lifting' technology, with the steel truss of the main tower lifted more than 100 meters. It was manufactured and erected by China Railway Jiujiang Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd. under China Railway Hi-Tech Industry.

The Wujiagang Yangtze River Bridge is bordered by Aijia Town in Dianjun District on the south and Wujiagang District on the north. It has a total length of 2.813 kilometers, a main tower 155 meters high and a deck width of 31.5 meters. Its main span is a 1,160-meter two-tower steel box girder suspension bridge. It was built to the standard of a dual-direction, six-lane urban expressway, with a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour on the main line.

'We undertook the manufacture and installation of about 20,000 tons of steel box girders for the main bridge as well as the overall construction process of the steel truss. All 20,000 tons of steel girders were produced at the Wuhan processing base of China Railway Jiujiang Bridge Engineering Co., Ltd.,' said a person in charge of the company. During construction, three major technical challenges were overcome. The first was the challenge of ultra-high-altitude limited-position lifting and installation, the first such application in China. The steel truss of the main tower has a water-drop shape and adopts a composite concrete-steel truss structure. Its design incorporates the element of the lily, the city flower of Yichang, decorating the bridge while stabilizing the tower. The steel truss weighs nearly 400 tons, is nearly 30 meters wide and 20 meters high, and was lifted by four hydraulic continuous synchronous lifting systems to a height of more than 100 meters, marking China's first ultra-high-altitude limited-position lifting installation. Because the steel truss was oversized in height, width and weight, it was first disassembled into several sections for transport to the bridge site one piece at a time, and then welded and assembled into a whole on the jig frame. During hoisting, technical personnel of the project department overcame the great challenges to hoisting alignment and welding posed by external factors such as wind, temperature and load on the bridge tower.

The second was the challenge of the 'pair-by-pair connection, simultaneous welding and erection' technology, the first such application in China. Technical personnel of the project department innovatively adopted a special process of welding pair by pair successively from the mid-span toward both sides, with welding and hoisting carried out simultaneously. This improved efficiency, saved construction time for the bridge, and provided experience for the installation and construction of steel box girders of similar long-span suspension bridges.

The third was the challenge of applying long-span steel box girder suspension bridge technology to protect the migration of Chinese sturgeon, the first such case in China. In order not to affect the migration of Chinese sturgeon, ensure that the Yangtze River shipping channel remained open, protect the surrounding environment and the biodiversity of rare species in the Yangtze River, the project department adopted a scheme of building no piers in the water and using a 1,160-meter main span suspension bridge to cross the river in a single span. This is currently the first bridge in China to adopt long-span steel box girder suspension bridge technology to protect the migration of Chinese sturgeon.

It is reported that the Wujiagang Yangtze River Bridge is a river crossing channel opened by Yichang to achieve the common development of 'both banks of the river' and to connect the Wujiagang New Area and the Dianjun New Area. It is also an important controlling project in building Yichang's 'four vertical and five horizontal' expressway network. After the bridge opened to traffic, it will complete the closed loop of the city's middle ring and give shape to the inner, middle and outer three rings. It is of great significance for expanding the urban framework, improving the urban road network layout, and advancing the construction of Yichang as a modern megacity and a regional central city in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.