On the morning of May 25, after nearly nine months of construction, the Changsheng Tunnel on the Shaanxi Zhenba–Sichuan Guang'an Expressway (hereinafter referred to as the "Zhenguang Expressway"), invested and built by Sichuan Railway Investment Group, was successfully holed through. The tunnel is about 3.6 kilometers long and is the longest, most difficult to construct, shortest in planned duration, and highest in safety risk among the tunnels on the Wangtong section. The breakthrough of the Changsheng Tunnel has given a boost to the construction of the Wangtong section of the Zhenguang Expressway.

Longest Tunnel on the Entire Line with High Construction Safety Risks

The Changsheng Tunnel is located in Changsheng Township, Tongjiang County, Bazhong, Sichuan. It starts in Nanya Village, Changsheng Township, and ends in Zhongfo Village, passing through the northern foot of Majia Mountain. The project started on July 30, 2020, with a construction period of 16 months.

The Changsheng Tunnel is about 3.6 kilometers long, with a maximum buried depth of about 430 meters and a general buried depth of about 200 meters. The surrounding rock is mainly soft rock, with relatively developed rock fissures and poor stability of the tunnel body, making it highly prone to crown falling blocks and extremely difficult to construct.

Since construction began last year, the project department has overcome unfavorable conditions such as complex geological conditions in the mountainous area, poor transport access, and high safety risks during the flood season. At the peak of construction, about 550 people worked simultaneously, and the number of working faces increased from the initial 4 to 10, further improving construction efficiency. The maximum excavation efficiency at each working face reached 180 m/month, setting a new high for construction speed and efficiency along the entire line.

Red-Themed Expressway Connecting Multiple Red Tourism Sites in Sichuan and Shaanxi

The Zhenguang Expressway starts in Zhenba County, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, passes through Bazhong and Dazhou in Sichuan, and ends in Guang'an, with a total length of about 261 kilometers. In August last year, the Changsheng Tunnel on the Wangping–Tongjiang section began tunnel excavation, becoming the first tunnel on the entire line to start excavation and marking the full-scale construction start of the Wangtong section.

The Wangtong section, which started construction first, begins in Baishisi Village on the west side of the Wangping Martyrs Cemetery in Tongjiang County (connecting to the endpoint of the Sichuan–Shaanxi boundary to Wangping section) and ends at the Guangna hub interchange on the south side of Tongjiang County seat, with a total length of about 33.3 kilometers and four lanes in both directions.

Once the Zhenguang Expressway is completed, it will break down development barriers for tourism sites in the Sichuan–Shaanxi red Soviet area and connect regional red tourism resources such as Deng Xiaoping's Former Residence, Huaying Mountain Scenic Area, the Sichuan–Shaanxi Revolutionary Base Museum, and the Wangping Martyrs Cemetery into a chain.

The line will also be developed into a red-themed expressway, and a preliminary design scheme has now been formed. With the goal of "a red-themed expressway that carries forward the Red Army spirit and showcases the original aspiration and mission of our Party," the route will build a red culture display system through "one expressway, two storylines, and four major themes" to tell red stories; it will use spatial carriers such as tunnels, slopes, central medians, service areas, and toll stations to set up red landscapes, presenting red culture to the public within limited time and space.

Up to now, all 7 tunnels on the Wangtong section of the Zhenguang Expressway have been holed through, 20 of 25 bridges have been connected, the pavement project has entered base course construction, about 85% of slope greening for the greening project has been completed, and works such as buildings, traffic safety, and electromechanical systems are being carried out in an orderly manner.