Recently, the right tube of the Shanchahua Tunnel, an extra-long tunnel on Section 2 of the Yibin-Weixin Expressway, was successfully holed through. The project is invested in and constructed by China Railway, China Railway City Investment, and Sanjiang Group, and undertaken by China Railway Beijing Engineering Group. The milestone goal of two-way breakthrough of the Shanchahua Tunnel was achieved on schedule.

The Yibin-Weixin Expressway is an important component of the "9 longitudinal lines" S41 Suining-Yibin-Bijie Expressway in the "Sichuan Provincial Expressway Network Layout Plan (2022-2035)," with a total construction length of 85.863 kilometers. The Shanchahua Tunnel is a controlling project of the entire line, located in the Shuanghe Town area of Changning County and the Didong Town area of Gong County in Yibin City. The left tube is 6,284 meters long and the right tube is 6,328 meters long, making it an extra-long tunnel; the left tube was holed through on May 7 this year. The terrain conditions, stratum lithology, geological structure, and weathering degree of the Shanchahua Tunnel are complex and variable, with Class IV and V surrounding rock accounting for 73%, classifying it as a high-risk tunnel with high construction safety risks and great difficulty in construction operations.

It is reported that after the Yibin-Weixin Expressway is completed and opened to traffic, it will form another inter-provincial expressway corridor out of Sichuan in the southern Sichuan region. It will also connect with the already completed Yibin-Yiliang Expressway, Yibin-Xuyong Expressway, Neijiang-Yibin Expressway, Leshan-Yibin Expressway, Naxi-Qianxi Expressway, Yibin-Chongqing Expressway, Yibin-Bijie Expressway, and others to form a network, building a regional expressway network for the entire southern Sichuan region and enhancing the overall efficiency of the road network.