Completion of the main body of Xinjiang's first expressway prefabricated overpass

Panorama of the bridge (photo by Ma Ting)

The bridge components are made in advance and assembled on site like "building blocks". On November 14, Xinjiang's first expressway assembly overpass in S21 Altay-Urumqi Expressway (hereinafter referred to as "Awu Expressway"), the main project of Youyi Road Overpass, was completed, and the overall road project entered the countdown to traffic.

On the same day, the reporter saw at the construction site of the Awu Expressway project that the Youyi Road Overpass connects the road between Wujiaqu City and Midong District of Urumqi City, with a total length of 112.5 meters and a width of 12 meters. The main bridge project has been completed, and workers are installing auxiliary facilities on the bridge deck and marking markings.

"Compared with the traditional cast-in-situ concrete, this kind of industrialized prefabricated bridge construction has shortened the construction period by 20%." Wang Liquan, the project leader of the eighth contract section of the first phase of the Awu Expressway project of Xingtai Road and Bridge Construction Group Co., Ltd., said that the piers, cover beams, steel beams, etc. required for the construction of the bridge are all prefabricated in the prefabrication yard, all are transported to the site, and assembled on site like "building blocks".

4 piers, 70 decks, 27 main longitudinal beams... the combined construction was completed in less than a month by the workers.

Wang Liquan said that the prefabricated construction adopts standardized design, and each component and connection is more refined, which will greatly improve the quality of the project. At the same time, saving construction time, conducive to construction management, improving working conditions (reducing high-altitude operations), reducing construction costs, and reducing construction work surface is conducive to environmental protection.

"We will promote it in the construction of the Xinjiang Expressway." said Zhou Jiuqing, chief engineer of Xinjiang Jiaotou Construction Management Co., Ltd., bridge prefabrication construction adopts industrialized centralized prefabrication and on-site assembly construction technology. The formation of an industrialized production line model through a reasonable resource allocation system is a trend in the construction of highways and bridges in the later period.

The Awu Expressway project is located in northern Xinjiang. The route passes through Beitun City, Fuhai County, Wujiaqu City, Changji Prefecture, and Urumqi City, with a total length of 342.538 kilometers and a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour. Among them, the section from Altay (Beitun) to Wujiaqu adopts the two-way four-lane expressway standard, and the section from Wujiaqu to Urumqi adopts the two-way six-lane expressway standard. After completion, Urumqi to Altay will be shortened by 258 kilometers and G216 will be shortened by 193 kilometers, and Urumqi to Altay will be "high-speed direct" and the journey will be shortened to about 4 hours.

"At present, 99% of the overall construction of the Awu Expressway Project has been completed, and the construction personnel are improving the service facilities along the line and commissioning related systems to ensure the opening of traffic before the end of the year." Zhou Jiuqing said.