At the start of the Chinese New Year in the Year of the Horse, the construction site of the Tianzhangzhai Branch Line of the Hexiang Expressway is already bustling. Rotary drilling rigs are roaring as they bore ahead, transport vehicles shuttle back and forth, and processes such as rebar tying and formwork installation are closely coordinated. All work points along the line have fully resumed construction, and more than a thousand builders have quickly switched from "holiday mode" to "battle mode," seizing the golden spring construction period to advance the project with high standards and high quality.

As a key project invested in and built by Anhui Construction Engineering Group, the S94 Tianzhangzhai Branch Line project is not only another major work by Anhui Construction Engineering Group in deepening its presence in the transportation infrastructure sector, but also a vivid practice of the group's integrated "investment, construction, and operation" full-industry-chain advantages. The project is about 45.9 kilometers long with a total investment of 7.59 billion yuan. It starts in Qingshan Town, Jinzhai County in the north, runs from north to south through deep mountain areas such as Yanzhi River and Manshui River, and ends at the Anhui-Hubei provincial border in Taipingfan Township, Huoshan County. It is scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in 2028.

This "new artery" running through the heart of the Dabie Mountains will, once completed, connect multiple east-west national expressways, including the G4222 Hexiang Expressway and the G4221 Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway, becoming a fast corridor linking the Yangtze River Delta and the central region. By then, travel time from Hefei to Tianzhangzhai will be shortened from 4 hours to 1.5 hours, and the route will connect multiple scenic areas along the way, injecting strong momentum into rural revitalization and tourism development in the old revolutionary base areas.

Faced with the complex terrain and geological conditions in the heart of the Dabie Mountains, the project team has deeply integrated intelligent construction with technological innovation to create a "construction engineering solution" suited to mountain expressway construction. At the controlling Yanzhi River Extra-Long Tunnel, mechanized supporting equipment such as dual-arm rock drilling jumbos and automatic spray-curing trolleys has been introduced. Through digital control systems, precise positioning is achieved, drilling efficiency is increased threefold, and excavation accuracy is controlled at the centimeter level, achieving comprehensive, multi-dimensional management results. In the construction of the Qingshan Interchange, the project innovatively applied high-pressure water jet cutting technology, successfully overcoming the water seepage problem of pile foundations near water. Construction efficiency increased by more than 40%, achieving non-destructive structural demolition and millimeter-level precision control.

To minimize the impact on the ecological environment along the route, the project team optimized the "mountain-winding access roads" into "mountain-stream access roads," greatly reducing tree felling. After slope excavation, an innovative "permanent-temporary integration" greening model was applied, allowing temporary access roads to be greened in advance and integrated into the mountain body, effectively reducing damage to and impact on surface vegetation during construction. At water-related construction points such as the Dousha River Bridge, fully enclosed facilities were adopted to achieve 100% recycling and utilization of wastewater and waste residue, ensuring the river water remains as clear as before. During winter construction, the project team also ensured that project quality "did not slip" through measures such as heating water at the mixing station, adding early-strength agents to concrete, and steam curing.

At present, the project has entered a stage of full-line acceleration covering bridge substructure, tunnel excavation, and roadbed formation, and construction tasks are being pushed forward at full speed according to the milestone targets of "combat operations by chart." This revitalization road through the mountains is turning from blueprint into reality step by step.

Source:People's Daily Online - Anhui Channel