At 7:18 a.m. on July 13, construction officially began on the Nanyao Bridge of the Lijiang–Shangri-La Railway, undertaken by the Lixiang Railway Project Department of the Third Company of China Railway 21st Bureau Group, as the rotary drilling rig was positioned and began rotary drilling. The Nanyao Bridge is located on the north side of the Lashihai International Wetland Park in Lijiang City. It has a total length of 415.4 meters, with 12 piers and abutments, a span of 32 meters, and a total of 71 pile foundations with a combined length of 3,192 meters. The piers are 8 meters high, and the longest pile foundation is 55 meters. The geology at the bridge pile foundations consists of expansive clay, silty mud and coarse rounded gravel soil, with a loose surrounding rock structure and rapid water seepage, making the pile holes prone to collapse. During construction, a time-critical construction method featuring rapid pile formation, rapid bottom cleaning, rapid rebar cage installation and rapid pouring is adopted to avoid collapse risks and ensure the safety of the pile foundations and the quality of the project.

The bridge was designed primarily from the perspective of protecting the water and environmental conservation of the Lashihai Wetland Park. It is necessary both to protect the Lashihai Wetland Park from being affected by the railway and to consider its aesthetics and practicality, while also ensuring the safety of tourists in the scenic area and on the Ancient Tea Horse Road. The bridge crosses the tourist village road of Nanyao Village and the Ancient Tea Horse Road, where an endless stream of tourists pass on horseback every day, causing great interference to construction. To ensure the safety of tourists and horses, the No. 7 Team of the project department proactively adopted safety protection measures, setting up protective panels and safety isolation belts along the roads used by tourists and making and installing various warning signs and notice boards. All machinery and vehicles on the site are required not to sound their horns when approaching road sections where tourists pass; all vehicles traveling on roads in the Lashihai tourist area must not compete for the road with horseback tourists and must yield to horses and tourists to prevent disturbing the horses.

At present, the Lijiang area has entered the rainy season, and construction in the rain will become the norm at the site.

However, all preliminary preparations for the construction of the Nanyao Bridge are complete, and the entire bridge construction will proceed steadily in accordance with the concepts of ensuring tourist safety and ensuring water and environmental conservation in the Lashihai tourist area, as well as the node schedule plan.