At 9 a.m. on October 20, as the last top plate of segment 24 was steadily lowered into the steel box girder skeleton structure and precisely joined with segment 25, the main bridge of the Linfen Cross-Fenhe River Bridge—a provincial key project and Shanxi's first double-deck bridge across the Fenhe River, constructed by China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau—achieved successful closure, marking a key step forward in the bridge's construction.

The main bridge of the Hefen First Road Cross-Fenhe River Bridge has a total length of 320 meters, with a span arrangement of 100 m + 140 m + 80 m. The large arch is 70 meters high, the middle arch 50 meters high, and the small arch 40 meters high; the bridge deck is 40 meters wide with eight lanes in both directions.

The bridge is Shanxi's first double-deck steel structure bridge with separate pedestrian and vehicle levels, arranged in upper and lower decks: the upper deck carries motor vehicles, while the lower deck carries non-motor vehicles and pedestrians. The bridge has a graceful and flowing form inspired by the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," employing an expressive approach that combines cultural landscape with natural scenery and drawing on the natural arcs of high mountains to achieve a scenic effect of "a ridge when viewed from the side, a peak when viewed from afar, with varying heights and forms from different perspectives." This fits the theme of the times and complements the existing bridges over the Fenhe River, and its novel appearance design has obtained a national patent.

Since construction began in November 2022, on the construction sites on both banks of the Fenhe River, the engineering and technical personnel of China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau have worked day and night. From the start of bored pile construction to the smooth closure of the steel box girder, the project participants overcame many difficulties including the Fenhe River flood season and high temperatures, made tremendous efforts, and carried out major production activities on both banks of the Fenhe River, ensuring quality and safety, racing to meet milestones, and striving for speed, winning one construction milestone victory after another. The successful completion of this steel box girder closure task has created favorable conditions for the next stage of steel arch construction. At present, the bridge's double-deck spatial structure is already visually evident.

In view of the excessive width and weight of the steel box girder segments and the great difficulty of transport and hoisting, the contractor adopted the scheme of on-site assembly of individual elements and segment sliding positioning throughout the steel box girder construction. The optimized steel box girder was divided into 26 segments in total, of which 21 segments were slid into place, and the segment closed this time was completed at the assembly platform position. To ensure the steel box girder closure goal, the construction unit, supervision unit, and contractor all took special measures for dedicated control, assigning dedicated personnel to monitor on site the quality of the steel box girder plate element processing and to oversee factory delivery, avoiding schedule delays caused by processing and transport time. To ensure normal production, the project contractor held construction coordination meetings on time every day to promptly resolve and handle issues concerning steel box girder weld inspection, steel structure element installation safety, quality, and progress that day. In view of the characteristics of sliding—"high risk and strict requirements"—the technical personnel of China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau, following the principles of safety first and quality priority, conducted real-time monitoring and re-inspection throughout construction, strictly controlled the elevation and alignment of the steel box girder, implemented leadership-led shift operations, and effectively coordinated upper and lower levels, fully setting off a surge of intensive production, thereby ensuring the smooth progress of project construction.

"Since the first steel box girder segment was slid into place on July 18, after three months of effort, we have finally achieved the goal of bridge closure. At present, the smooth closure of the main bridge steel box girder works has created favorable conditions for the next stage of steel arch construction. Next, the project department will seize the favorable time, continue to work hard with dedication, uphold high standards and strict requirements, and make continuous efforts to achieve the goal of opening to traffic as soon as possible," said Luo Yajun, project manager of the contractor China Railway Shanghai Engineering Bureau.

After the bridge is completed and opened to traffic, the accessibility of Linfen's rapid middle ring will be greatly enhanced, and it will also add new momentum to expanding the urban spatial layout, coordinating the construction of the eastern and western urban areas, and promoting high-quality development. The Cross-Fenhe River Bridge will become a new calling card for Linfen's external image, and its landscape-inspired, dynamic form will add yet another landmark scenic structure over the Fenhe River.