The underground utility tunnel is a public tunnel constructed by unified planning, design, construction, and maintenance of all underground municipal pipelines. As the flood season approaches, what does an underground utility tunnel look like and how does it function? Recently, the reporter visited Ningbo to explore the Eastern New Town underground utility tunnel, which was completed and officially put into operation not long ago. This is Zhejiang Province's first underground utility tunnel to be activated after 15 years of exploration. What kind of "mysterious" underground world is it?
Underground Space in Order
Anyone who has seen the animated series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" must remember the mysterious underground world of New York. Now, in the core area of Ningbo Eastern New Town, such a networked underground space is also hidden.
"The utility tunnel is like an underground storage box and a city power transmission center." Wearing a safety helmet, staff from the Ningbo Eastern New Town Development and Construction Headquarters led the reporter underground. After bypassing a parking lot and walking down a narrow passage, entering from the management center and turning a corner, the view suddenly opened up.
The underground space is not too large. Above are two pipes, one round and one square. A wall divides the space into left and right sides: the left is the electrical compartment, and the right is the water compartment. On the left wall, steel brackets extend horizontally, holding various thin pipelines in categories, arranged in two layers, parallel to each other; on the right, two thick pipes, one blue and one black, run parallel forward. The entire space is orderly. Such a scene makes one feel like being in a Hollywood blockbuster. Without seeing it with one's own eyes, it is hard to feel the spectacle.
In addition to numerous pipelines and equipment, the underground utility tunnel is similar to a city's underground civil defense project, with walking space. Without professional guidance, it is difficult to enter.
Continuing east, we came to a crossroads. The pipelines turn regularly, clearly separated one by one and row by row. "Above here is the intersection of Jingjia Road and Heqing Road," said Pan Bolin, deputy chief engineer of the Ningbo Eastern New Town Development and Construction Headquarters. The distribution of the underground utility tunnel is almost parallel to the pedestrian roads above and below. "Many people don't know that there are so many things under the roads they walk on every day."
Currently, the total length of the Ningbo Eastern New Town underground utility tunnel is 9.38 kilometers, consisting of three horizontal and three vertical lines, serving an area of about 8 square kilometers. That is to say, within this area, various pipelines for electricity, telecommunications, mobile, Unicom, broadcasting, water supply, heating, etc., have basically been laid, and medium-water pipe positions are reserved.
Pipeline Lifespan up to 100 Years
"The Eastern New Town underground utility tunnel is divided into 38 sections, connecting six roads—Jiangcheng Road, Haiyan Road, Heqing Road, Ningdong Road, Ningchuan Road, and Zhongshan East Road—to form a network," Pan Bolin said. This scale is the first in Zhejiang and relatively rare nationwide.
Underground utility tunnels originated in 19th-century Europe. In 1958, Beijing built China's first underground utility tunnel. In recent years, utility tunnel construction has received increasing attention. As early as 2001, Ningbo also proposed the concept of building utility tunnels, began planning in 2004, and started construction in 2005.
Why choose the core area of Eastern New Town? Pan Bolin said: "This area is mainly a commercial and office district with a high floor area ratio. Each building houses many units, with large electricity, water, and communication demands, so the requirements for pipelines are higher."
Decades ago, there were only a few types of underground pipes such as water and sewage pipes. Now, dozens of types of pipes and thousands of pipelines for electricity, communications, heating, etc., gather underground, intertwined and complex. Once a pipeline has a problem, the main road must be "cut open." "With urban development, various municipal pipeline facilities need continuous expansion, addition, repair, and renewal," Pan Bolin said. "Frequent road excavation not only negatively affects citizens' lives but also causes significant economic losses."
Pan Bolin also said: "Although the initial construction cost of an underground utility tunnel is higher than direct burial, the later maintenance costs and other indirect costs will be much lower. The high protection of the utility tunnel prevents pipelines from soil corrosion and minimizes losses during typhoons and earthquakes." Now, the underground utility tunnel has formed a network, steadily supporting the core area of Ningbo Eastern New Town, with a design service life of 100 years.
Constraints on "Flexing Muscles"
In the second half of this year, the Ningbo Eastern New Town underground utility tunnel will add a video surveillance system to the existing automated monitoring system to gradually improve operation management.
In the future, if commercial or residential buildings are to be built in Eastern New Town, it will only be necessary to specify the required data for electricity, heat, water, communications, etc. After approval, relevant units can enter the utility tunnel and install wiring in designated areas. This intensive pipeline management also allows for higher utilization of underground space. Pan Bolin said that underground space and surface space will be developed in a ratio of about 1:3—under 10 million square meters of surface space, there will be 3.2 million square meters of underground space.
"For the 160,000 people in this area, each person can have 20 square meters of underground space," Pan Bolin said. Eastern New Town will create an "underground city," gradually improving underground transportation, parking lots, equipment rooms, commercial rooms, etc. But he also pointed out that utility tunnel construction is more suitable for newly built urban new areas and is difficult to "flex muscles" in densely populated, congested old urban areas.
At the same time, "underground pipelines belong to many different units. When problems arise, there are often situations where different pipelines have inconsistent specification requirements and inadequate implementation. Charging rules, operating standards, etc., also need to be unified by relevant policies and regulations," Pan Bolin said. These are urgent issues to be solved in the construction, operation, and management of underground utility tunnels.