The fourth quarter is a critical period for sprinting toward the full-year targets. In recent days, at the sites of several key projects in Chongqing, builders have been mustering their energy to compete on quality and push progress, launching a year-end sprint and setting off a new wave of construction.

Huangjiaotuo Yangtze River Bridge: Over 300 builders launch a "major campaign"
On November 18, at the construction site of the Huangjiaotuo Yangtze River Bridge on the Yuchang Expressway duplicate line near Tenglong Avenue in Nan'an District, sparks flew on the steel-plate trestle bridge as workers carried materials and erected formwork dozens of meters up in the air.
"To complete the full-year targets before the end of the year, more than 300 construction workers are carrying out a 'major campaign' on the project, with two-shift operations at work points that have obtained night-construction permits," said Tian Li, chief engineer of the Huangjiaotuo Yangtze River Bridge project of China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group.
The Yuchang Expressway project is the throat project of the Eighth Connecting Line of the expressway network, with a total length of about 21.78 kilometers. The Huangjiaotuo Yangtze River Bridge is the controlling node of the entire project. With a total length of 1,260 meters, the bridge integrates multiple functions of "urban expressway + urban arterial road + rail transit" and adopts a double-deck arrangement: the upper deck is a dual six-lane urban expressway, while the center of the lower deck reserves double-track space for the planned Phase III of Rail Transit Line 18. Once completed, it will be the world's largest-span road-rail suspension bridge.
It is reported that the Huangjiaotuo Yangtze River Bridge is scheduled for completion in 2027. It will enable rapid access to and from the central urban area via the Yuchang duplicate expressway, ease traffic pressure on the Inner Ring Expressway and Yuhang Avenue, drive efficient and coordinated development of hubs such as Guoyuan Port and clusters such as Tangjiatuo and Yuzui, and further enhance interconnectivity among Jiangbei District, Nan'an District and Liangjiang New Area.

Wuzhen Expressway: Digital technology improves construction precision
On the afternoon of November 14, at the pavement-laying site of the Zhongba Interchange of the Chongqing Wuxi–Shaanxi Zhenping Expressway, as the last truckload of asphalt was paved, a new 1.5-kilometer stretch of black pavement took shape, marking the completion of asphalt pavement paving along the entire Wuzhen Expressway and providing important assurance for opening to traffic by the end of the year.
"To ensure driving comfort in the future, during pavement laying the project department adopted a digital construction method—the non-contact balance-beam method," said a person in charge of China Railway Construction Chongqing Investment Group.
During pavement laying, the paver uses multi-point probes installed on the balance beam to scan the elevation and smoothness parameters of the surface to be paved, transmit them in real time to a computer, and adjust the relevant parameters, achieving automatic leveling and paving by the system and greatly improving pavement construction precision.
"Construction of the Wuzhen Expressway has entered the final sprint stage," said a person in charge of Chongqing Wuzhen Expressway Co., Ltd. The project department is stepping up remaining tasks such as pavement finishing, building and greening works, and electromechanical commissioning.
The Wuzhen Expressway is Chongqing's first expressway directly connecting to Shaanxi. After the entire line opens to traffic, the drive from Wuxi to Zhenping in Shaanxi will be shortened to one hour. It will effectively link multiple expressways including the G65 Baotou–Maoming Expressway, G42 Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway and G50 Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway, becoming a fast corridor from the northwest region to the sea.

Yuxiang Duplicate Expressway: Innovative construction techniques accelerate tunnel construction
On November 13, at the construction site of the Yuxiang Duplicate Expressway in Sanhe Village, Shiqiang Town, Nanchuan District, after about 1,100 days of arduous efforts by more than 100 builders, the right tube of the Xiangshuling Tunnel was holed through on schedule, sounding the "charge call" for the completion and opening of the entire line.
The Xiangshuling Tunnel has a single-tube length of 4,019 meters, of which the right tube is about 2,005 meters and the left tube 2,014 meters. It is designed as dual six-lane with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
A person in charge of China Railway Beijing Engineering Bureau Group stated that the tunnel portal is in a shallow-buried section with a depth of 5–50 meters, directly beneath which are residential houses, mostly stone-and-earth structures. Therefore, collapse is likely during excavation, bringing great difficulties to tunnel excavation and support.
To solve the support problem, the project department innovated construction techniques and invented new grouting equipment. During tunnel support, the grouting anchor pipes achieve automatic grouting, reducing the number of workers from three to one, increasing grouting efficiency by 30%, and eliminating blind spots and unevenness caused by manual grouting.
To ensure the left tube is holed through by the end of this month, the project department will further accelerate, improve quality and raise efficiency in project construction, striving to achieve the opening target as early as possible.
The Yuxiang Duplicate Expressway has a total length of 280 kilometers and passes through five districts and counties: Ba'nan, Nanchuan, Pengshui, Youyang and Wulong. After the entire line opens to traffic, it will greatly ease congestion on the existing Yuxiang Expressway and is of great significance for promoting economic development along the route.

Chahui Avenue: Girder-erection work at multiple points accelerates construction progress
On November 18, at the Chahui Avenue construction site, it was learned that the more than 800-meter section from Tongjiang Avenue to Yingchun Road is expected to complete its main structure by the end of this month and enter the stage of bridge-deck ancillary works.
Because this construction area is located on Yuma Road in Chayuan, heavy traffic has resulted in a narrow construction space. To minimize the impact on traffic, the project department adopted the SPS truss support system, which occupies less space, instead of conventional steel-support scaffolding, increasing construction efficiency by 50% and reducing the weight of a single component by 40%. A person in charge of Chongqing Urban Construction Development Co., Ltd., affiliated with Chongqing Land Group, said that in response to the current situation of "small on-site construction space and inability to form continuous working faces," the project department also used truck cranes instead of bridge-erection machines to enable girder-erection work at multiple points and speed up construction progress.
Chahui Avenue starts at Chayuan Interchange, passes through Chongqing East Railway Station and ends at the Ring Expressway, with a total length of about 8.96 kilometers. It is an important expressway trunk line in the eastern part of the central urban area and an important skeleton connecting road between the Inner Ring Expressway and the Ring Expressway.

Cuntan International Cruise Home Port: Racing against water levels with 24-hour rotating operations
The Cuntan International Cruise Home Port project is currently the largest "cargo-to-passenger" port project in China's inland river basin. On November 17, at the project site, it was learned that by the end of this year the project is expected to complete the frame construction of the vertical lift complex at 204 meters and below, reaching the conditions for equipment installation.
The Cuntan International Cruise Home Port started port engineering construction last year. "During construction, the builders have been racing against water levels, even working in 24-hour rotating shifts," said a person in charge of the project of CCCC Second Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. The port is the first cruise terminal project in China and even the world with a water-level difference of more than 30 meters and all-weather, year-round operation, with no mature construction experience to draw on, high construction requirements and great technical difficulty. To this end, the project pioneered a boarding and disembarking system that uses multi-dimensional sensing devices and intelligent computing to smartly sense hydrological changes in the Yangtze River. Port machinery and equipment automatically adjust via hydraulic and pin devices to the water-level height suitable for cruise ship berthing, solving the problem of year-round high water-level changes, opening a safe passage connecting ships and the port, and creating a passenger experience of "boarding as if boarding an aircraft."
After completion, the Cuntan International Cruise Home Port project will focus on "cruise+" and new consumption, building a world-class inland river cruise hub integrating "ship, port, city, tourism, shopping and entertainment," and forming a core functional area for high-end international consumption, international business and international exchange with prominent window, trade and tourism functions.