On July 17, as the 15.01-meter-diameter "Kaituo" (Pioneer) shield machine broke through the soil, the north line of the Zhuhai Tunnel Project—an under-construction super-large-diameter shield cross-sea tunnel in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area—was successfully holed through.

The shield-driven section of the Zhuhai Tunnel Project is 2,930 meters long with a maximum burial depth of 35 meters. Two super-large-diameter slurry balance shield machines, "Kaituo" and "Fenjin" (Striver), were used to run parallel to the Zhuhai Bridge, crossing the Modaomen waterway estuary of the Pearl River from west to east.

On July 17, the "Kaituo" shield machine broke through the soil, and the north line of the Zhuhai Tunnel Project was successfully holed through.

The Zhuhai Tunnel Project has complex geological conditions, characterized as large-scale, difficult, risky, and innovative. The contractor successively overcame construction challenges including shield launching in shallow-cover soft-soil strata, crossing flood-control embankments, and passing close alongside bridge pile foundations, successfully achieving the launching and driving of two super-large-diameter shield machines.

During shield tunneling, the project team overcame technical challenges such as segment floating in full-face silt strata and in strata that are soft on top and hard at the bottom, as well as the vertical "upward drift" of the shield posture, and scientifically resolved obstacles to safe and rapid shield tunneling such as underwater boulders and bedrock protrusions.

Upon completion, the Zhuhai Tunnel Project will join the existing Zhuhai Bridge to form a composite east-west corridor for Zhuhai City, creating a parallel above-water and underwater bridge-tunnel configuration. This will ease traffic pressure between the eastern and western urban areas of Zhuhai and is of positive significance for strengthening connections between the eastern and western clusters and promoting the economic and social development of the special economic zone.