In the early hours of January 15, after 5 consecutive hours of concrete pouring, the main bridge of the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge in Yibin, constructed by Sichuan Road & Bridge under Sichuan Railway Investment Group, achieved closure, with opening to traffic just around the corner. The bridge's cable towers feature the country's first "Fish Leaping over the Yangtze" design. In the near future, the main channel of the Yangtze River trunk line in Sichuan will gain another river crossing, and the main urban area of Yibin will go from having a single Yangtze River bridge to two, greatly improving traffic conditions.

Nation's first cable tower design, with intelligent monitoring ensuring construction precision

The closure construction of the main bridge of the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge began at 8:00 on January 9. After the hoisting and welding of the upstream and downstream main longitudinal girders and cross beams, as well as the installation of bridge deck panels and wet-joint concrete pouring, the closure was successfully achieved.

Over the broad river, a magnificent bridge leaps across like a rainbow, closely connecting the two banks. This double-tower, double-cable-plane hybrid composite girder cable-stayed bridge has a main span of 480 meters, a dual-direction eight-lane deck, and a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The north and south main towers are about 183 meters high, equivalent to a 60-story building. Viewed from the side, each cable tower has two curves extending upward from the deck, converging at the top and extending outward to form a "fish head," so that the overall shape resembles a river fish leaping out of the water and soaring upward.

"This fish-leaping-over-the-Yangtze cable tower design is the first of its kind in the country and posed great challenges for construction," Qin Jianjun, project manager of the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge in Yibin under Sichuan Road & Bridge of Sichuan Railway Investment Group, told Sichuan Online. This special shape made the cable tower construction process complex. To address this, the project department adopted the TS60 surveying robot, the most precise in the world, and worked with research institutes and universities on technical breakthroughs, keeping the cable tower construction under intelligent high-precision monitoring 24 hours a day and ensuring precision control at every position of the bridge.

The 60-story-high cable towers are the main load-bearing supports of the entire bridge. To meet their load-bearing requirements, the main pier pile foundations on both banks are deeply "embedded" in rock, and the rotary drilling pile reaming process was used to solve the technical challenge of large-diameter rotary drilling for foundation piles in hard rock strata, providing a reference for similar projects in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In August 2020, the upper reaches of the Yangtze River experienced a once-in-50-years catastrophic flood that submerged the bridge's trestle four times, yet the cast-in-place support for the south bank side main span of the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge held firm, standing on the bank of the Yangtze and withstanding the test.

Citizens voted to select the "national first," which will quickly link the two banks of the Yangtze

Why did the bridge adopt the "Fish Leaping over the Yangtze" design? Qin Jianjun told Sichuan Online that this unique design was selected by local Yibin residents through voting, symbolizing the Yangtze River and rare fish and giving the bridge commemorative significance for ecological protection.

Why was the design decided by public vote? This is related to the important role of the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge.

The Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge is one of the four sub-projects of the Yibin Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge and Connecting Line Project. Located between the Yanpingba cluster and the Lingang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Yibin, the project is one of the 17 river crossings in the main channel of the Yangtze River trunk line in Sichuan planned in the "Layout Plan for Yangtze River Trunk Line Crossings (2013-2020)."

The Lingang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Yibin is separated from Xuzhou District by only a river, yet travel between them is very inconvenient. In the main urban area of Yibin, the Caiyuantuo Yangtze River Bridge, known as the "First Bridge of the Ten Thousand Li Yangtze," alone bears traffic volumes close to capacity between the south bank and the Sanjiang New Area. Even under off-peak traffic and clear roads, the trip from Lingang Economic and Technological Development Zone to Xuzhou District takes about half an hour.

The Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge and Connecting Line Project is 2.4 kilometers long and includes four sub-projects: an interchange, the bridge, and connecting lines. Once completed and open to traffic, it will take only about 5 minutes to reach both banks, effectively easing traffic pressure and strengthening the main urban area's radiating influence on the Lingang Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Qin Jianjun said that after the closure of the main bridge, the project will enter the next stage of construction. It is expected that on June 30 this year, the Yanpingba Yangtze River Bridge and Connecting Line Project will be fully completed and open to traffic. A brand-new Yangtze River bridge and a river crossing on the main channel of the Sichuan section of the Yangtze will soon appear!