The Tiantangzhai Branch Expressway is located in the hinterland of the Dabie Mountains. It is a key construction project of Anhui Province's 14th Five-Year Plan and a crucial corridor linking Anhui and Hubei, connecting scenic areas, and benefiting people's livelihoods. During this trip, the delegation conducted on-site surveys ofthe Yanzihe Tunnel exit, the Tiantangzhai East Interchange, and the Qilin River Bridge—three key nodes—to gain an in-depth understanding of the project's construction progress and breakthrough highlights.

According to Su Bo, project leader of the Second Sub-division of Section 1 of the Tiantangzhai Branch Expressway project,this sub-division has a total route length of 13.05 kilometers and is built to a two-way, four-lane standard, covering the full range of works including subgrade, pavement, bridges, and tunnels. It includes 1 interchange, 1 tunnel of 535 meters, and 20 bridges totaling 6,970 meters, with a bridge-tunnel ratio as high as 50% and nearly 7 million cubic meters of subgrade cut-and-fill. The total project investment is 1.375 billion yuan, with a construction period of 36 months,entailing arduous construction tasks and stringent technical requirements.

As the core node of the project, the Tiantangzhai East Interchange features dense bridges and numerous high piers, with 30-meter box girders and 40-meter T-girders erected in cross-operation with cast-in-place box girders, making construction organization extremely difficult. "Since commencement, we have coordinated deployment and planned scientifically, completing the bridge substructure in just 7 months. On April 23, we successfully completed the first cast-in-place bracket span of the interchange, officially transitioning to superstructure construction," said Su Bo.The project plans to complete the main superstructure by the end of October 2026 and achieve the basic formation of the interchange by the end of December.

At the Qilin River Bridge construction site, machinery roars and pile foundations are in full swing as builders push forward with all their strength on this controlling project. This 431-meter bridge features a main span of a (72+130+72)-meter continuous rigid-frame structure crossing the Qilin River, with steep terrain, complex geology, and ecological sensitivity, placing its construction difficulty among the highest on the entire line. Currently, 50% of the bridge substructure has been completed, and pile foundations for 18 main piers are under simultaneous construction.Construction is scheduled to begin in June this year with cantilever casting using form travelers on the main piers, and the entire bridge is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

The Tiantangzhai Branch Expressway is expected to complete its main structure by April 2028 and open to traffic along the entire line by September.After opening, the drive from Hefei to Tiantangzhai will be shortened from 3 hours to 2 hours, enabling "a direct drive to the scenic area." The expressway connects 6 townships across Jinzhai and Huoshan counties, benefiting a million people in the old revolutionary base area. It not only opens a "road to prosperity" for transporting agricultural products but also activates the red-tourism and green-ecology resources of the Dabie Mountains, becoming a major transportation artery that boosts rural revitalization and drives high-quality regional development.

Source: Lu'an Municipal People's Government Release