On February 28, pile foundations for three bridges on the Laohekou–Nanzhang Expressway in Xiangyang—the Yindan Third Main Canal Bridge, the Hanjiang River Grand Bridge, and the Huilong River Bridge—began drilling simultaneously. These are the project's controlling works. The milestone marks the full entry of all sections of the expressway's advance works into substantive construction. The project is invested by a consortium including Xiangyang Hanjiang State Investment and constructed by China Construction Third Engineering Bureau.

The Hanjiang River Grand Bridge is the controlling work for the entire expressway, running from Taipingdian Town in Fancheng District, Xiangyang, to Miaotan Town in Gucheng County. With a total length of 3,798.5 meters, it adopts structural designs including a low-pylon cable-stayed span and prestressed concrete continuous rigid-frame structures, crossing both banks of the Hanjiang River. The pile drilled this time, No. 60-1, is 51 meters long with a diameter of 2.2 meters.

The expressway route passes through multiple areas of poor geological conditions, ecologically sensitive zones, and cultural relic protection sites, imposing high requirements on quality control, environmental and water conservation, and cultural relic protection. For this pile foundation construction, the project department of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau prepared detailed special construction plans and carried out full-coverage thematic training on safety technical briefings, safety training, quality control, environmental protection operations, and cultural relic protection. Standardized site layout has enabled seamless coordination between management at all levels and the construction frontline, laying a solid foundation for the smooth drilling of the first pile and building the bridge's foundation with a rigorous approach.

According to the head of the China Construction Third Engineering Bureau project command, since the project was awarded on September 23 last year, under the efficient coordination and scientific guidance of Xiangyang municipal government authorities and Hanjiang State Investment Co., Ltd., the project department has rapidly advanced large temporary works including the project camp, site laboratory, concrete batching plant, and steel reinforcement processing yard, promptly organized the mobilization of construction machinery, materials, and personnel, and quickly carried out site clearing at the first work points, successfully achieving the drilling of the first pile today. Next, the project department will organize scientifically, closely track milestones, and work to a reverse schedule to fully accelerate project construction while ensuring construction quality, safety, and environmental protection, and ensure that all targets and tasks are completed on schedule.

The Laohekou–Nanzhang Expressway starts in Hongshanzui Town, Laohekou City, and ends at the Nanzhang Service Area of the Macheng–Ankang Expressway. It has a total length of 89.7 kilometers, a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour, a subgrade width of 26 meters, four lanes in both directions, and 10 interchanges along the route. The project is a component of the second expressway corridor from the Xiangyang metropolitan area to the Wuhan metropolitan area. Once completed, it will effectively break the transportation bottleneck in the mountainous areas of northwestern Hubei and drive the quality and efficiency improvement of specialty agriculture and eco-tourism industries along the route.

Source: People's Daily Client