On June 8, the main tower on the Sichuan bank of the Kahaluo Jinsha River Bridge, a key control project of the Yibin Xinshi to Jinyang section (hereinafter referred to as the Yijin section) of the Yanjiang Expressway invested by Sichuan Expressway Company of Shudao Group and constructed by Sichuan Road & Bridge, was successfully capped, pressing the "accelerator button" for the completion and opening of the Yanjiang Expressway.

The Kahaluo Jinsha River Bridge is a single-span suspension bridge with a total length of 1,818.53 meters and a main span of 1,030 meters. It has two main towers, one on the Sichuan bank and one on the Yunnan bank, each as high as 197 meters, equivalent to a 65-story building. A total of about 71,417 cubic meters of concrete, about 10,899 tons of steel rebar, and about 6,687 tons of steel structures were poured for the main towers on both banks. The bridge uses a concrete-filled steel tube composite structure for the main towers of the suspension bridge, featuring a two-story portal frame configuration, a world first in the history of suspension bridges. The bridge towers adopt the design concept of a frame-shear wall structure, using high-strength concrete-filled steel tube materials to reduce cross-sectional dimensions, lighten self-weight, and improve seismic resistance.

The main tower on the Sichuan bank is located on the valley bank of the Xiluodu Hydropower Station reservoir area in Kahaluo Township, Leibo County, Liangshan Prefecture. The height from the bridge deck to the water surface reaches 110 meters, equivalent to a 36-story building. It was constructed in 32 segments. The reservoir bank geology is complex and variable, dominated by silty clay, accumulated gravel, and high-terrace cobbles. To ensure construction quality, the project construction team jointly carried out scientific and technological research, and adopted a combined structural form of "ultra-deep large pile foundation + pile grouting" for the construction of the bridge's main tower foundation, ensuring the safety of the bridge structure. At the same time, the project applied BIM technology to build a 3D model of the main tower, precisely controlling the structural dimensions of each segment, accurately guiding on-site construction, and ensuring a smooth capping. The successful application of this technology earned the project 6 utility model patents, 3 provincial-level construction method applications, and 3 published papers.

Once the Kahaluo Jinsha River Bridge is completed, it will greatly shorten the time and distance between the people on both banks of the "Sichuan-Yunnan" region, rewrite the history of the two banks relying on ferries for connectivity, promote the effective utilization of local specialty resources, and boost rural revitalization in the Greater and Lesser Liangshan areas.

The Sichuan Yanjiang Expressway is currently the expressway project with the largest single investment scale in the history of domestic expressway construction, crossing 4 world-class cascade hydropower stations and multiple strong seismic fault zones, with the most complete and diverse types of special-structure bridges, and branch line construction mileage reaching the highest among Sichuan expressways. Among them, the bridge-tunnel ratio of the Yijin section is as high as 92%, ranking first among expressway projects under construction in the province. The entire Yanjiang Expressway is planned to be completed and opened to traffic in 2025.