In the early hours of January 23, all was quiet in northern Henan as a bridge weighing 12,000 tons, 100 meters long, 26 meters wide, and 15 meters high, completed an 89.98-degree rotation over the Anyang section of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, one of China's major north-south transport arteries—performing a spectacular 'aerial gymnastics'.
“This giant structure is equivalent to the weight of 67 Boeing 747 passenger aircraft, and its rotation construction process is extremely complex,” Zuo Xiaowei, project manager of the Anyang Northwest Ring Expressway, told reporters.
It is understood that the Anyang Northwest Ring Expressway under construction has a total length of 27 kilometers, connecting the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway to the east and the Nanlin Expressway to the west, and crossing the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway. The Anyang section of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway handles about 220 trains per day and is extremely busy. The bottom of the ring expressway railway overpass is only 8 meters from the tracks at its closest point. To avoid long-term disruption to railway operations during construction, the contractor adopted a method of first casting the bridge girder on one side of the railway and then rotating it across the railway to connect with the approach bridges.
“This rotation was extremely difficult,” Zuo Xiaowei said. With heavy traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou line during the day, the rotation could only be carried out in the early morning. After nearly two months of repeated coordination with the railway authorities, they finally obtained a 64-minute 'window period.' That is, during this period, all trains passing through Anyang on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway were suspended.
At 6 a.m. that day, before dawn, the rotation site of the Northwest Ring Expressway bridge north of Liangbudaying Village, Honghetun Township, Anyang City, was as bright as day. In the shivering cold wind, a massive 'T'-shaped concrete bridge stood quietly under the night sky.
At 6:20 a.m., the construction workers conducted the final inspection and preparations.
At 6:24 a.m., at the command of the project director, the rotation officially began. The site fell silent instantly; people held their breath, their eyes fixed on the bridge. Under computer control, the winch at the bottom of the bridge began to whir, and the bridge body slowly started to rotate clockwise. Without close attention, its movement was hard to detect.
At 7:00 a.m., dawn was just breaking in the east. “Rotation at 50 degrees, monitoring normal.” The site remained quiet, with only the director's voice heard from time to time.
At 7:26 a.m., both ends of the 'T'-shaped main bridge docked with the approach bridges. “All personnel remain on alert on site.” Two minutes later, the on-site director loudly announced: “The rotation of the Anyang Northwest Ring Expressway overpass over the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was successful!” Instantly, thunderous applause erupted at the site.