On the morning of August 3, with the completion of erection of the last precast T-beam on the left carriageway of the Huangdong River Grand Bridge in Phase I of the Mengxiang Project, the bridge successfully achieved full-width completion. With this, all 3 tunnels and 14 bridges on the main line of the Heba Expressway (Jinxiu Section) have been completed, and all major controlling works have finished their main structure construction, meaning the main line section of the Heba Expressway (Jinxiu Section) has achieved full-width completion. The Huangdong River Grand Bridge is erecting its last precast T-beam. The Hezhou-Bama Expressway is one of the important east-west highway corridors in Guangxi, spanning the three economic zones of eastern Guangxi, central Guangxi and western Guangxi. The Mengshan-Xiangzhou Section is the third section of the Hezhou-Bama Expressway.

This section is implemented in two phases. Phase I of the Mengxiang Project (also known as the Jinxiu Section of the Heba Expressway), which was constructed first, is located within Jinxiu County, with a main line length of about 33.6 km. It is an important component of the Heba Expressway (Mengxiang Section) and, together with Phase II, forms the road network of the Heba Expressway (Mengxiang Section).

The Huangdong River Grand Bridge is located at the junction of Phase I and Phase II projects and is one of the key nodes in Phase I construction. The bridge lies in deep mountain valleys with steep and precipitous terrain and complex topographic conditions; it has a large span, high requirements for overall alignment control, and great construction difficulty, making it a typical mountain expressway structure.

Current construction status of the Huangdong River Grand Bridge

"The Huangdong River Grand Bridge is one of the important controlling works of the Mengxiang Expressway. The full bridge has 33 spans of 40 m each, with a left-line bridge length of 1,324.75 m and a right-line bridge length of 1,329.75 m. The tallest pier reaches 66.1 m, making it a typical mountain expressway bridge," said Wei Liyong, an engineer from the project department of the Hezhou-Bama Expressway (Jinxiu Section). The Huangdong River Grand Bridge project is located on the northern side of the Dayao Mountains in Guangxi, where the terrain is extremely steep and the original topography is rugged and uneven. The bridge alignment follows the river valley, with some piers located at cliff edges or over the river channel. The bridge has a large span and high requirements for overall alignment control, posing certain difficulties for pile foundation hole formation, launching gantry passage, and T-beam bearing installation. From the percussion drilling of pile foundations to the present, with the diligent efforts of all construction participants, after more than 900 days and nights of continuous struggle, the approximately 1.32 km-long Huangdong River Grand Bridge was finally completed smoothly.