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August 2005

China’s Chongzun Expressway nears first-stage completion

Work on the south section of the new Chongzun Expressway, which runs between Chongxihe and Zunyi in Guizhou province, is nearing completion and will shortly be open to traffic – on time and to budget.

As part of China’s ambitious national trunk highway network of 12 east-west and north-south corridors, the 118km expressway is part of a long-term plan to open up the central and western regions of China to the boom areas of the eastern rim, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Halcrow, as consultant to the Guizhou Expressway Development Corporation, has a team of ten on site providing construction supervision services covering tunnels, bridges, QA, road safety, pavement engineering and electrical and mechanical services. The company is also responsible for providing social impact and evaluation monitoring, technology transfer and advice on construction management. Funding for the £470 million (6.7 billion RMB) road is being provided by central and local government and the Asian Development Bank.

Commenting on the scheme, project director, Michael Yu, says: ‘This is of great significance to the development of the west and to the growth of the local economy in Guizhou region. Technically, it’s also a very interesting job. It runs through some very rugged terrain with very complicated geology and topography. At its lowest point the road is 420m above sea level but rises to 1,450m. I don’t know of any other country building roads like this today.” Achieving it has involved the construction of 121 bridges with a combined length of 25km and 17 tunnels measuring a total of nearly 20km. The project’s longest tunnel, the Liangfengya at 4,107m is one of the longest highway tunnels in China.

The BBC’s reporter, Nick Mackie, recently visited the project. An online version of his article can be found on:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4633241.stm

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