China Railway Group Limited (CREC) connected the main sections of the Beijiang Grand Bridge on May 20. Before that, the bridge was the last unconnected part of the expressway from Qingyuan to Guangzhou in South China’s Guangdong Province.
The main bridge is 1,440 meters long and has a 360-meter main span. It is features four cable towers shaped like the feather of feng huang (phoenix), a auspicious bird in Chinese mythology.
The longest pile foundation of the bridge’s main pier is up to 102 meters deep, passing through multiple caves, fissures and inclined rocks. The vast and poorly filled karst caves are susceptible to external forces, meaning they could collapse or experience a water burst.
To address these issues, the construction team tailored every pile with a special plan and employed preventive safety methods for karst caves. Because of this, each of the 120 locations they bored for the pile foundation of the main pier was totally successful on the first try.
The unique shape of the cable towers also presented problems for the construction team. They adopted advanced technologies and equipment, including three-dimensional digital technology, a fully automated hydraulic climbing formwork system and an intelligent surveillance system, to ensure efficient and safe construction. (....)