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On the morning of May 20, the Vanadium-Titanium High-tech Zone Bridge, one of the controlling projects of the Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway, was successfully completed and fully connected, pressing the "accelerator key" for achieving the goal of opening 68 kilometers of the Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway on June 30.

The Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway starts on the south side of Ningnan County seat in Liangshan Prefecture, passes through Ningnan County, Huidong County, Huili City, and Yanbian County, and ends in Renhe District of Panzhihua City, with a total route length of 166.167 kilometers. The ZCB2-20 contract section where the bridge is located starts in Hongge Town, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, and ends in Renhe District, Panzhihua City, with a total length of 3.535 kilometers. The main bridge is a prestressed concrete low-tower cable-stayed bridge with spans of 128+245+128 meters, and the approach bridges are T-shaped simply supported girder bridges and continuous steel truss-concrete composite girders. It mainly includes the Vanadium-Titanium High-tech Zone Bridge and the Jinjiang Hub Interchange, directly connecting to the already completed and open G4216 Panzhihua to Lijiang Expressway section, and intersecting with the Xipan and Pantian Expressways to form a cross-shaped hub. The Vanadium-Titanium High-tech Zone Bridge is located in a seismic intensity zone of degree VIII, with a maximum pier height of 116 meters. It is the **high-pier low-tower cable-stayed bridge in Sichuan Province and one of the "two bridges and two tunnels" controlling projects of the Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway.

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After the Vanadium-Titanium High-tech Zone Bridge is connected, it will efficiently link with the under-construction Pantian Expressway and Lipan Expressway, becoming the core hub of the expressway network in the southwestern region, taking "a big step" toward the completion and opening of 68 kilometers from the Ningnan Hub to Xinjie Interchange and from Yanbian and Ai Interchange to Jinjiang Hub Interchange of the Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway on June 30, and will bring Sichuan Province's expressway mileage in operation to 10,000 kilometers. As of now, the Ningnan-Panzhihua section of the Yanjiang Expressway has completed a cumulative investment of 26.01727 billion yuan, accounting for about 87.4% of the estimated investment of 29.76162 billion yuan.

The G4216 Yibin Pingshan Xinshi to Panzhihua Expressway is a component section of the Chengdu to Lijiang Expressway of the national expressway network and has been included in the national "Yangtze River Economic Belt Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Transportation Corridor Plan." Because the route is laid out along the Jinsha River, it is called the "Yanjiang Expressway." The Yanjiang Expressway project has a length of 446.244 kilometers and an estimated total investment of 93.4312 billion yuan. The entire line has 37 extra-large bridges and 35 extra-long tunnels, with a bridge-tunnel ratio of 84% and a tunnel ratio of 60%, making it a key project of Sichuan Province's expressways.

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In 2025, after the entire Yanjiang Expressway is completed and opened to traffic, the drive from Yibin to Panzhihua will be shortened from 10 hours to 6 hours, adding another new westward outbound artery from Sichuan. At the same time, the project will build Suijiang, Yongshan, and Qiaojia branch lines to strengthen connectivity between Sichuan and Yunnan provinces on both sides of the Jinsha River, and help build the Yangtze River Economic Belt Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Transportation Corridor by connecting to South Asia and linking rivers to the sea.