September 20

ITA Tunnelling Awards shortlist announced

Built by China Railway 14th Bureau Group

Nanjing Yanziji Yangtze River Tunnel nominated for

"Major Project of the Year"

Jinan Yellow River Jiluo Road Tunnel nominated for

"Project of the Year"

Major Project of the Year (over €500 million)

Nanjing Yanziji Yangtze River Tunnel

The Nanjing Yanziji Yangtze River Tunnel is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and is a twin-tube, two-way, six-lane urban highway tunnel. The project has complex geological conditions, a sensitive construction environment, and high technical difficulty. It is China's first shield-driven underwater tunnel required to pass through multiple complex geological combinations in a single run, including a highly permeable sand layer, an uneven soft-hard soil-rock composite stratum, a full-face hard rock layer, karst strata, and a regional fault. It was also the extra-large-diameter underwater shield tunnel with the highest water pressure and greatest water depth at the time. The construction team applied key technologies from years of shield tunnel construction through rivers and seas, conducting targeted research and design on cutterhead types, cutter types, and pressure resistance, and custom-built the most advanced shield equipment to cope with the complex geology. They developed and applied technologies such as high-precision precasting and assembly of segment linings, treatment of karst composite strata, and excavation face stability control in fault fracture zones and riverbed scour channel sections, creating a safe, technologically advanced, and green tunnel project.

Project of the Year (€50 million–€500 million)

Jinan Yellow River Jiluo Road Tunnel

The Jinan Yellow River Jiluo Road Tunnel is located beneath the Yellow River channel. It is the world's first extra-large-diameter shield tunnel to cross a perched river (where the maximum water level of the perched river is 7 m above the city ground), the largest-diameter shield tunnel project in the Yellow River basin, and also the tunnel project with the highest technical difficulty and greatest risk challenges, known as "the First Tunnel of the Ten-Thousand-Li Yellow River." The tunnel connects the north and south banks of the Yellow River section in Jinan, Shandong. During construction, the project pioneered efficient shield tunneling technology in composite strata with high-clay-content calcareous concretions, pre-warning and prevention and control technology for extra-large-diameter segment lining uplift, and precise control technology for an extra-large-diameter shield passing beneath a perched river, solving technical challenges such as low shield tunneling efficiency, segment lining uplift, high precision requirements for the internal structure construction of the combined road-rail project, and strict ground settlement control requirements.

It is reported that the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) was founded in 1974 and is an international academic organization for the tunnelling and underground engineering profession, and one of the influential academic organizations in the world. This year's Tunnelling Awards have seven categories, with a total of 25 shortlisted nominations worldwide (20 shortlisted projects and 5 shortlisted individuals), of which China accounts for 12.
Since 2015, in order to recognize outstanding projects and individuals that bring breakthroughs and innovation to the development of tunnels and underground space worldwide each year, the ITA has selected representative engineering projects and individual nominees globally, with dozens of top experts conducting centralized evaluation and presenting the annual awards, which are also widely recognized as the "Oscars" of the global tunnelling industry. The ITA has attracted thousands of tunnelling experts worldwide and gathered thousands of well-known tunnels and underground projects, with its international influence growing steadily.