On the 19th, the Xuefengshan Tunnel (left tube) of the Wulong-Liangjiang New Area (Wuliang) Expressway was successfully holed through. This is also the longest tunnel on the entire Wuliang Expressway, marking the full breakthrough of all tunnels along the route. It is understood that the Wuliang Expressway is the 16th connecting line in the "four rings, twenty-two radials, sixty connecting lines" expressway network layout set out in the Chongqing Expressway Network Plan (2023-2035). It links the Ring Expressway, the Nanchuan-Liangjiang New Area Expressway and the Third Ring Expressway, and serves as a lateral densification line between the Yangtze River Corridor and the Chongqing-Hunan Corridor. The route is about 36.721 kilometers long, designed for a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and built to a two-way, four-lane expressway standard. Once the expressway opens to traffic, the drive from Wulong to the central urban area will be shortened to one hour.

"During construction, shale oil and gas appeared on the tunnel excavation face. To ensure the safety and quality of subsequent construction, we organized expert reviews and promptly revised and optimized the construction plan," said Huang Zhong, chief engineer of the Wuliang Expressway project of China Railway No. 8 Engineering Group. Since entering the tunnel in March 2022, the project management team has overcome special geological conditions such as fractured rock masses, poor self-stability, minor gas, and shallow cover with eccentric loading, rationally optimized the construction plan, and carefully organized on-site construction. During construction, the project department strictly followed the construction principles of "advance pipe forepoling, strict grouting, short advance, weak blasting, strong support, rapid sealing, and frequent monitoring," and, with the "Five Guarantees and One Tree" labor competition as a lever, actively adopted the "four new" technologies to ensure the smooth breakthrough of the tunnel.

According to reports, the Xuefengshan Tunnel connects Wulong District and Fuling District and is an important traffic artery for FengLai Town in Wulong District. The left tube of the tunnel is 4,550 meters long and the right tube is 4,559 meters long, with maximum buried depths of 394 meters and 396 meters respectively. The design adopts a double-tube, two-way tunnel, with a clear width of 10.75 meters and a clear height of 5 meters for the main bore. It is designed as a conventional small-clearance separated tunnel, with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour.