On the morning of January 9, the right tube of the Zhangfang Tunnel on the Shanan Expressway was successfully holed through, making it the first tunnel on the entire Shanan Expressway line to achieve single-tube breakthrough, laying a solid foundation for ensuring the road opens to traffic on schedule.

The Zhangfang Tunnel, located in Contract Section A7, is the ** tunnel of the Nanping section of the Shanan Expressway to commence portal excavation, and is also a key control project for the entire line. The left tube is 1,541 meters long and the right tube is 1,530 meters long, with a maximum excavation span of 15.56 meters and an excavation cross-section of 118.31 square meters. The surrounding rock is predominantly Grade IV and V, fractured and structurally complex, making construction difficult and safety risks high.

Sheng Changchang, project manager of the Shanan A7 Project Department of the Third Engineering Co., Ltd. of China Railway 14th Bureau Group, said: "Excavation of the Zhangfang Tunnel began on March 16, 2023. By combining multiple advanced geological prediction methods such as ground-penetrating radar, TSP and advanced horizontal drilling, we conducted comprehensive judgment and analysis of geological conditions and identified adverse geological features, their nature and scale in advance. During construction we strengthened ventilation and monitoring of toxic and harmful gases, reinforced tunnel monitoring and measurement, and made every effort to overcome all difficulties, completing the tunnel breakthrough 60 days ahead of the original schedule."

The Shanan Expressway project is a key construction project in Fujian Province and has been included in the national expressway network. Once completed, travel time from Shaxian to Nanping will be shortened from 2.5 hours to within 1.5 hours, which is of great significance for strengthening regional cooperation and complementarity, implementing the rural revitalization strategy, and promoting the revitalization of the old revolutionary base areas and former Soviet areas.

Ma Wenhua, deputy general manager of Wusha Company, explained: "The Nanping section of the provincial key project Shanan Expressway is 93.5 kilometers long in total, with 73 bridges totaling 18 kilometers and 9.5 tunnels totaling 16.6 kilometers. In Shunchang County there are 65 bridges, about 13 kilometers, of which 55% has been completed, and 8.5 tunnels, about 15 kilometers, of which 50% has been completed. For quality and safety management measures, we first adopted an integrated agency-construction-plus-supervision model, which improved efficiency and strengthened supervision control. The entire project fully implements standardized management to ensure construction quality."