Tongzipo Road Entrance/Exit of Xiangya Road River-Crossing Tunnel

Tongzipo Road Entrance/Exit

After nearly five years of construction, the Changsha Xiangya Road River-Crossing Tunnel officially opened to traffic at 9 a.m. on July 5. It is the largest-diameter shield tunnel in Hunan Province to date and the first two-way, six-lane river-crossing tunnel in Changsha.

The project starts at Yuehua Road in Xiangjiang New Area in the west and ends at Furong Road in Kaifu District in the east, with a total length of 4,180 meters. The tunnel consists of south and north main lines and four ramps, designed as a twin-tube, two-way, six-lane structure, making it the first two-way, six-lane river-crossing tunnel in Changsha.

With a total investment of approximately 5.328 billion yuan, the project was launched in 2019, with a total length of 4.18 kilometers, comprising tunnel and surface road works. The tunnel passes beneath the Xiangjiang River, with the river-crossing section designed as two-way, six lanes; it was bored by one domestic 15-meter-class shield machine, which passed beneath the Xiangjiang River embankment four times and crossed fractured zones under the riverbed twice, among other high-risk sources. It overcame complex geological challenges such as large-diameter, long-distance, high-strength rock strata beneath the riverbed, achieving a construction record of up to 270 meters of boring per month in rock strata.

The complex surrounding environment and geological conditions were major challenges during construction. The project team organized expert teams to carry out research and development, creating a tailor-made "Xingsheng" shield machine integrating many advanced cutting-edge technologies to overcome multiple construction challenges in crossing the Xiangjiang River and improve construction efficiency.

Inside the tunnel, the monitoring system, public service system, and visualization system are more intelligent, enabling intelligent interconnection, digital data collection, autonomous inspection, and full-line radar-video monitoring after opening to traffic. Based on an IoT platform and digital twin technology, a smart operation center has been built to create a smart brain for tunnel operation and management.

The opening of the tunnel will further ease the pressure of river-crossing traffic in the urban area and improve the transportation network on both banks of the Xiangjiang River. It is the third river-crossing tunnel opened in Changsha, following the Yingpan Road Tunnel and the Nanhu Road Tunnel.