On July 13, according to China Railway Construction Chongqing Investment Group Shuanghe Expressway Company, the first steel box girder of the Youxi Yangtze River Bridge on the Hebijin Expressway, constructed by China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group, was successfully hoisted yesterday, marking that the construction of the Youxi Yangtze River Bridge has entered the steel box girder hoisting stage.

At 14:56 on the 12th, on the calm river surface, after precise positioning, the girder transport vessel stopped below the bridge site. By lowering the cable crane spreader and connecting the temporary lifting points, the mid-span steel box girder was steadily lifted vertically and rose slowly under the traction of the cable crane. After about 5 hours of lifting about 110 meters to the design height, the first steel box girder, 15 meters long, 30 meters wide, 3 meters high and weighing 203 tons, was firmly suspended above the Yangtze River and completed permanent connection and fixation with the mid-span suspender cables.

According to reports, the Youxi Yangtze River Bridge on the Hebijin Expressway has a total length of 1,178 meters. It is a single-span suspension bridge with a main span of 760 meters and side spans of 210 meters and 240 meters respectively. The bridge deck structure is a two-way four-lane roadway, with a deck width of 30 meters and a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour. The main girder adopts steel box girders, with a total of 51 segments and a total weight of nearly 11,000 tons.

The first steel box girder hoisted this time is the mid-span No. 26 girder segment, weighing 203 tons, equivalent to the weight of 135 cars (each car about 1.5 tons). It crosses the Yangtze River navigation channel at a height of 100 meters, making the hoisting difficult and the safety risk high. In order to successfully complete this hoisting construction, Shuanghe Company and the Civil Engineering Section 5 project department of the Hebijin Expressway organized multiple discussions and simulations of the hoisting plan, set up a special hoisting operation team, and coordinated and communicated many times with maritime and navigation channel management units, water maintenance units, and transport units to implement temporary navigation closure, ensuring the safe and smooth progress of the hoisting construction.

The Youxi Yangtze River Bridge on the Hebijin Expressway is expected to be closed in mid-September, after which it will move on to the next stage of processes such as steel box girder welding and main cable anti-corrosion. The successful hoisting of the first steel box girder marks that the Youxi Yangtze River Bridge has fully entered the superstructure construction stage, laying the foundation for the opening of the entire line to traffic.

After the Hebijin Expressway is completed, it will effectively connect multiple radial expressways such as the Chengdu-Chongqing Expressway, Jiuyong Expressway, Yurong Expressway, and Yusui Expressway, forming a new connection between the Second Ring and Third Ring expressways, effectively alleviating the traffic pressure on the Ring Expressway and promoting the rapid economic and social development of the western Chongqing area.