Technical personnel conducting geological survey at the tunnel construction face

The Guilin-Liucheng Expressway (New Guilin-Liucheng Expressway) is an important component of the "Vertical Line 5" Guilin-Liuzhou-Nanning Expressway second corridor and the "Horizontal Line 2" branch line Guilin-Hechi in the Guangxi expressway network. Once completed, it will connect multiple ethnic minority areas, become a tourism expressway in northern Guangxi, and serve as a link for Guangxi to connect with Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao in the east, Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan in the west, Hunan in the north, and ASEAN in the south. The main line is 95.738 kilometers long, with 71 bridges and 16 tunnels.

On July 15, after 445 days and nights of hard work, with the successful implementation of the final blasting, the left tube of the Shankou Tunnel—the last barrier in the Guilin section of the New Guilin-Liucheng Expressway—was successfully holed through. With this, all roads within the Guilin section of the New Guilin-Liucheng Expressway have been fully connected.

The Shankou Tunnel is located in Longjiang Township, Yongfu County, and is a key project of the Guilin-Liucheng project. The left line of the tunnel (the left side from Guilin to Liuzhou) is 2,863 meters long, and the right line (the right side from Guilin to Liuzhou) is 2,838 meters long. It is a separated tunnel. The tunnel has complex geological conditions, mainly Class IV and V surrounding rock, with developed joints and fissures, which are weathered fissures and structural joints. The rock mass integrity is poor and the rock mass is broken, making construction difficult and safety risks high, which has led to relatively slow construction progress.

To this end, workers fought day and night to complete the tunnel as quickly as possible. The construction party organized multiple tunnel investigations, invited experts for on-site guidance, and carefully organized and reasonably arranged work through expert review meetings and on-site office meetings, vigorously implementing measures and solving the difficulties in tunnel construction one by one, safeguarding the completion and opening of the New Guilin-Liucheng Expressway.

The construction party mobilized various equipment and advanced technologies to build a solid foundation. During the overall tunneling process, multiple new technologies such as advanced forecasting technology, geological radar, wet spraying manipulators, and Italian-imported MC15 advanced drilling rigs were actively adopted. With the approach of "advanced pipe roof, strict grouting, short advance, weak blasting, strong support, early ring closure, and frequent measurement," progress was made steadily. Difficulties such as complex geological conditions at the tunnel entrance and poor surrounding rock integrity were overcome one after another, enabling the smooth and stable implementation of the tunnel project.

By the end of this year, it is estimated that everyone driving from Guilin toward Liuzhou will be able to choose the New Guilin-Liucheng Expressway.