On the morning of April 10, amid the mountains and canyons of Yanzhihe Town in Jinzhai County, a precast box girder about 30 meters long and weighing over a hundred tons was steadily hoisted by a massive bridge-erection machine and precisely lowered onto the pier columns. With the successful installation of the first girder slab, the Tianzhangzhai East Interchange on the Tianzhangzhai Branch Line of the Hexiang Expressway, invested and built by Anhui Construction Engineering Group (ACEG), officially transitioned from substructure construction to the superstructure girder erection stage.

At the Tianzhangzhai East Interchange construction site, looking down from a high vantage point, bridge piers stand like bamboo shoots after spring rain as workers rush to advance construction, presenting a spectacular scene. Because the interchange lies in the complex terrain of a hollow between two mountains, space in the interchange area is extremely limited, making construction organization exceptionally difficult.

Today, within the interchange construction area, a 1.77-kilometer G346 road relocation project is under simultaneous intensive construction. The relocation project includes a 460-meter bridge and crosses the interchange main line and ramps three times at different levels.

It is understood that the project team basically completed all bridge substructure construction for the interchange in just seven months. At present, the site has fully shifted to the stages of cast-in-place construction on falsework and girder slab installation, with the superstructure main works scheduled for completion by the end of October this year and the Tianzhangzhai East Interchange basically taking shape by the end of December.

Following the rugged construction access road deeper into the mountains, the reporter then arrived at another control project of the scheme—the Qilinhe Bridge. The bridge is 431 meters long and spans the Qilinhe Canyon, with a main bridge of (72+130+72)-meter continuous rigid frame. A 150-meter steel temporary bridge lies across the blue waters, dozens-of-meters-high piers stand tall, and workers are busy at the construction site of the thin-walled main piers.

According to reports, the 62.8-meter-high No. 5 main pier will be a construction challenge. "We plan to deploy three tower cranes in support, and expect to start cantilever casting with form travelers on the main pier in June this year," said the on-site technical director. Currently, 50% of the bridge substructure has been completed, and the entire bridge is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

High Piers Built on Steep Cliffs, Tallest Pier 68 Meters

The First Bid Section, Second Sub-division of the Tianzhangzhai Branch Line, constructed by Anhui Construction Engineering Water Conservancy, is located in Yanzhihe Town and Changling Township of Jinzhai County. The alignment is 13 kilometers long, with high mountains, deep ridges and steep cliffs throughout, and includes 20 bridges and 1 tunnel, with a bridge-tunnel ratio as high as 52%.

Tianzhangzhai Branch Line Expected to Be Delivered by the End of September 2028

As a key project invested and built by ACEG, the S94 Tianzhangzhai Branch Line project is not only another masterpiece of the group in deepening its presence in the transportation infrastructure sector, but also a vivid practice of the group's integrated "investment-construction-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 southward through deep mountain areas such as Yanzhihe and Manshuihe, and ends at the Anhui-Hubei provincial border in Taipingfan Township, Huoshan County.

The Lu'an section of the Hexiang Expressway was completed and opened to traffic at the end of last year, and the Tianzhangzhai Branch Line is expected to be delivered by the end of September 2028. Although not long in mileage, this expressway is of extremely high value; once completed, it will connect 1 5A-level, 8 4A-level and 6 3A-level scenic areas along the route, creating a golden tourism corridor. By then, the drive from Hefei to the Tianzhangzhai Scenic Area will be shortened from the current 3 hours to 2 hours, truly achieving "a direct drive to the scenic area."

This major transportation artery in the heart of the Dabie Mountains radiates to 39 townships in Jinzhai and Huoshan counties. It will not only make travel more convenient for people in the old revolutionary base areas and make it more efficient for mountain products to reach markets, but will also directly drive tourism development and help local people increase incomes and become better off.

Source: Dawan News