On April 29th, with the successful lifting of a 1,200-ton large floating crane, the first steel box girder, which is 36 meters long, 20.75 meters wide, 4 meters high and weighs 606.6 tons, was precisely erected on the steel beam support. This announced a major breakthrough in the key construction period node of the Wan-long Bridge project, which was designed by the Fourth Railway Survey and Design Institute and constructed by China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau - the successful erection of the first steel box girder. The successful erection of the first steel box girder marks that this world-class bridge has officially shifted from the foundation construction stage to the superstructure construction stage, laying a solid foundation for the smooth progress of the subsequent projects.
The main line of Wan-long Bridge has a total length of approximately 5.146 kilometers, with six lanes in both directions. The designed speed is 60 kilometers per hour, and the main span is 608 meters. It is currently the self-anchored suspension bridge with the largest span in the world. Many technical indicators, such as its span, girder body, main cable, main tower, and the construction equipment of the tower crane, will break six world records. After the completion of this super bridge that combines both "good looks" and "substance", the maximum span of the world's self-anchored suspension bridge will be updated to 608 meters. The unique shape of the "huo'er house" creates a visual effect of "a bright moon rising over the sea", which will create a new world-class landmark landscape for Nansha, Guangzhou and become a new business card of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The main bridge of the bridge adopts a self-anchored suspension bridge with a spatial cable and an elliptical tower. The whole bridge consists of 66 segments of steel box girders. Among them, 30 segments of the steel box girders need to be jacked and pushed, 24 segments need to be hoisted in large sections, and 12 segments need to be assembled by cable-stayed suspension. There are a total of 61 segments of cross beams. The construction methods for erecting the steel box girders are diverse and complex, with great difficulty in alignment control and a high safety risk level.
To ensure the smooth erection of the first segment of the steel box girder, the project department made plans in advance and organized meticulously. It invited industry experts to hold review meetings several times to conduct in-depth demonstrations of the construction plan, widely absorbed professional opinions, and optimized the details. Eventually, it successfully overcame technical challenges such as high-altitude operations and large-scale hoisting, and successfully completed the task of erecting the first segment of the steel box girder.
As a core node of the road network in the southern cluster of Nansha, once completed, Wan-long Bridge will form a golden logistics corridor connecting the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the Nansha-Zhongshan Expressway, and the Longxue Island Port Area. Its design with six lanes in both directions can improve the efficiency of cargo collection, distribution and transportation in the port area, shorten the land transportation time from Nansha Port to the main cities in the Greater Bay Area, drive the growth of the logistics economy, enhance the regional transportation service level, and meet the requirements in the Nansha Plan for strengthening the function of an international shipping and logistics hub.
In the next step, the project will continue to adhere to high standards and strict requirements, implement various safety control measures, build a solid defense line for work safety, fully promote the project construction, and complete all the construction objectives of Wan-long Bridge with high quality.
