On September 16, the Jiuliangshan Tunnel of the Ruicang Expressway, constructed and managed by Zhejiang Communications Group, successfully achieved double-tube breakthrough.

The Ruicang Expressway starts at Gaolou Town, Ruian City, Wenzhou, and ends at Qianku Town, Cangnan County, Wenzhou, with a total length of 52.6 kilometers and a total investment of approximately 15.95 billion yuan. As an important road connecting Wenzhou's developed coastal economic zone and mountainous areas, the Ruicang Expressway project has a bridge-tunnel ratio of 87%, the highest among mountain expressways under construction in Zhejiang Province. Among them, the Jiuliangshan Tunnel is located in Neiao Village, Shuitou Town, Pingyang County, with a total length of 1,180 meters, and is one of the key nodes of the project. This breakthrough will save beam and slab transportation time, improve beam and slab erection efficiency, and create favorable conditions for subsequent construction.

Full-tube breakthrough of the Jiuliangshan Tunnel on the Ruicang Expressway

It is understood that the entrance of the Jiuliangshan Tunnel is less than 50 meters from residential houses, and the design elevation is more than 10 meters lower than the original ground level. During excavation, it was difficult to discharge rainwater, which brought many challenges to the builders. To this end, the project established a quality and technical research team, made meticulous arrangements and coordinated progress, and, in combination with the tunnel construction drawings and geological and hydrological technologies, analyzed and assessed the surrounding rock conditions of the tunnel. It reasonably formulated excavation methods in response to adverse geological changes, ensuring smooth tunneling and rapid construction.

"The Jiuliangshan Tunnel has many types of large linings, and the differential weathering of shallow granite in the tunnel site area is obvious, and the thickness of the fully weathered layer varies to a certain extent. In particular, the fully weathered soil stratum in the shallow buried section of the tunnel may contain moderately weathered rock blocks, which are prone to falling." said the relevant person in charge of the Civil Engineering Section 1 bid of the Ruicang Expressway of Zhejiang Communications Group. To hold the red line and bottom line of safe production, the project formulated and improved special construction plans and established a dual mechanism of graded safety risk control and hidden danger investigation and governance, fully ensuring the safety of personnel during operations.

Ruicang Expressway

At the same time, the project used its self-created "Standardized Work Manual for Trades" to integrate safety operating procedures and key points of safety control in construction operations into team education, so that safety knowledge is deeply rooted in the heart and daily safety management is more humanized and effective. Thanks to strict and detailed management, the safety management of the Jiuliangshan Tunnel during construction has always remained stable and controllable.

It is reported that as of now, the project has completed a cumulative investment of 11.209 billion yuan, accounting for 70.27% of the approved estimate, and the cumulative overall image progress is 59.65%, including 76.12% for subgrade, 62.58% for bridges, and 85.04% for tunnels.