On October 10, after more than 500 days and nights of construction, the right tube of the Lihuashan No. 1 Tunnel, a key control project of the Tianfu New Area to Qionglai Expressway (hereinafter referred to as the "Tianqiong Expressway"), was successfully holed through, marking the full breakthrough of the Lihuashan Tunnel, the only tunnel on the entire project line. The Tianqiong Expressway project has entered the construction sprint stage, striving to complete the main line by the end of 2023.

The Lihuashan Tunnel has been fully holed through. Photo courtesy of Shudao Group

The Lihuashan Tunnel is located within the territory of Xinjin District, Chengdu. It is the first three-lane full-section tunnel in the province with the same width as the roadbed, adding an emergency lane compared with the traditional scheme. It is divided into two medium tunnels, with a total length of 1,042.5 meters and a design speed of 120 km/h. It is a key control project of the Tianqiong Expressway project. The tunnel as a whole is characterized by "shallow burial depth, large cross-section, horizontal rock strata, and weak surrounding rock," making construction relatively difficult.

To accelerate the construction of the Lihuashan Tunnel, all participating units of the project team made every effort to ensure construction progress and innovatively optimized construction techniques. By promoting standardized tunnel processes and micro-innovations, adopting construction machinery such as wet spraying machines, and applying four-new technologies such as electromagnetic welding of waterproof boards, they effectively improved tunnel construction quality and ensured that construction safety control was in place. At present, the roadbed and bridge engineering construction of the Tianqiong Expressway project has exceeded 90%. Next, Chengdu-Chongqing Company's Chengqiongya Company will accelerate pavement paving and the construction of ancillary works such as mechanical and electrical, building construction, traffic safety, and landscaping.

The Tianqiong Expressway is about 42 kilometers long and is a major corridor in the southwest direction of Chengdu. After completion and opening to traffic, it will effectively alleviate the enormous traffic pressure on the Chengdu-Ya'an Expressway and strengthen the organic integration and integrated development of the Chengdu economic circle.