Recently, the main section of the Shiyitang Expressway Project (Phase I) in Ningbo Qianwan New Area successfully passed completion acceptance, meaning that this major transportation artery—which has undergone three years of construction, connects externally to the Hangzhou Bay Bridge and internally to Qianwan New Town—is about to be completed and opened to traffic.

The Shiyitang Expressway Project (Phase I) starts from the North Hub Interchange of Ningbo Qianwan New Area and ends at the North Ningbo Qianwan New Area (formerly Binhai New Town) Interchange. The main line has a construction length of 1,882 meters, including the mainline bridge over the sea area, the Phase I ramp bridges of the New Area North Hub Interchange, the widening bridge of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the Phase I ramp bridges of the Binhai New Town Interchange, and the Binhai New Town Interchange Comprehensive Management Center. The entire line is built to a two-way, six-lane expressway standard with a design speed of 120 km/h, and a North Toll Station is set up in Ningbo Qianwan New Area.

Because it lies across the intertidal zone of the sea area, the Shiyitang Expressway had complex construction conditions, so during the construction phase the project applied many "black technologies." For example, the project applied the domestically pioneered "support corbel + section steel joint" widening technology for long-span prestressed beam bridges, solving the engineering challenge that the existing Hangzhou Bay Bridge had no reserved opening.

In addition, to adapt to the tidal-flat geological and topographic conditions, the project adopted a highly technological new air-lift reverse-circulation rotary drilling rig hole-forming process for pile foundation construction, in order to solve the problems of diameter shrinkage and hole collapse that easily occur during drilling construction, thereby meeting the characteristics of large-diameter and ultra-long piles, reducing possible pile foundation quality problems, and accelerating the overall construction progress. During the construction period, the project won 3 provincial and ministerial-level construction methods, obtained 3 authorized patents, and summarized 5 standardized processes.

Economic development requires transportation to lead the way. "At present, the project has completed 99.5% of its image progress, and in the near future we will also complete the construction of the pavement ancillary section of the project." The person in charge of the Shiyitang Expressway project said that the opening of the project will further improve the road network of the new area, divert and relieve regional long-distance transit traffic, fully leverage the function of the south bank connection of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and be of great significance for promoting the industrial development of Qianwan New Area and driving the coordinated development of transportation in the northern part of Ningbo.

Not only the Shiyitang Expressway, the reporter learned that since the beginning of this year, a series of transportation infrastructure projects in the new area have been accelerated, and the rapid road network of Ningbo's "northern gateway" is taking shape at an accelerated pace.

As of now, Xingci 8th Road and Xingci Avenue Expressway have both started construction and are being rapidly advanced, and the construction of the Qianwan New Area section of the Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway Double Line has also entered the final stage, striving for completion by the end of this year.

In addition, in July this year, the approximately 8.115-kilometer-long Huyun Highway (the section from Kandun Yong'an Road to the Binhai Avenue of the New Area) was fully opened to traffic, adding another major north-south transportation corridor from Cixi to Qianwan New Area and shortening the commuting time and space distance between the two places.