On the evening of September 5, with the completion of the last span's wet joint pouring, the transverse splicing project of the former Nvgukou Grand Bridge on the Qinglan Expressway, undertaken by China Railway 14th Bureau Group, was successfully completed. This is also the longest offshore transverse splicing construction of large cantilever flange plates in China.

The splicing project of the former Nvgukou Grand Bridge is located on the west side of the Shuangbu Toll Station of the Qinglan Expressway, spanning the Jiaozhou Bay sea area. The entire bridge has a total of 1,041 transverse ribs and 3,060 meters of bridge deck wet joints. It is a controlling node project of the reconstruction and expansion project of the Shuangbu to Hetao section of the Qinglan Expressway.

In the Qinglan Expressway reconstruction and expansion project, the median strip of the existing bridge of the former Nvgukou Grand Bridge was removed, and the left and right spans were transversely spliced into a whole to serve as the right span of the Qinglan Expressway reconstruction and expansion project, widening the original bridge deck to four lanes. This greatly improved the traffic capacity of the right span of the bridge section after reconstruction and expansion, and provided conditions for the efficient weaving and connection of vehicles turning from the Xiashuang connecting line to Huazhong Road in the long term.

The project adopted the key technology of transverse splicing and reinforcement of large cantilever flange plates, transversely splicing the left and right spans of the ultra-long multi-span large-span continuous box girder. This is the longest offshore transverse splicing construction of large cantilever flange plates in China. The project invited Tongji University and bridge experts in the industry to jointly study and discuss, and determined the suspended ultra-long trestle and bridge transverse splicing scheme.
The suspended trestle construction forms a construction platform through cross beams, longitudinal beams, and suspenders, building a 2.4-kilometer-long suspended trestle in a non-ground-supported manner, which both ensures construction safety and facilitates construction.
For the bridge transverse splicing, one transverse rib is set every 3 m along the longitudinal direction of the bridge. Through flange plates, drilling, and planting reinforcement, self-compacting non-shrink concrete is poured to connect the left and right spans into a whole. Then the flange plates are connected into a whole with steel bars and concrete is poured. The transverse ribs, like "threading a needle and leading the thread," "stitch" the two bridges together, enabling the two grand bridges that originally spanned Jiaozhou Bay to successfully "join hands."

The Shuangbu to Hetao section of the Qinglan Expressway is an important part of the national expressway network and the comprehensive transportation system around Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao. After the project is completed, it will achieve efficient connection with the first phase of the New Airport Expressway, the New Airport Expressway connecting line, and Huanwan Avenue, greatly enhancing the traffic distribution capacity between Jiaodong International Airport and the main urban area and the surrounding road network. It is of great significance for promoting the coordinated development around the bay, accelerating the construction of the comprehensive pilot zone for the conversion of old and new growth drivers, and promoting the integrated development of the Jiaodong economic circle.