Good news: Wuxi will build a new tunnel! It was learned on August 3 that the Huishan New Town tunnel section of the Xitai Expressway has successfully completed construction bidding and is about to enter the construction phase, marking another key step forward in the overall expressway project. Once the tunnel is completed, it will ease traffic pressure on the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, improve the road network structure of the district, and provide more convenient travel conditions for residents and enterprises along the route.

Looking at the Wuxi road network planning map, a network layout of "three horizontal, three vertical, and three link" roads has basically taken shape, but the weak points of the expressway system are also obvious: the traffic capacity from Wuxi to Shanghai and Suzhou is insufficient.

At present, there are the "three horizontal" routes of the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway, the Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway, and the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou South Expressway. Among them, the Wuxi-Suzhou section of the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway undertakes long-distance transit traffic and short- and medium-distance intercity traffic, with an average daily traffic volume of about 200,000 vehicles; the Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway has only four lanes in both directions and has been in a saturated state year-round.

The transportation network between Suzhou and Wuxi needs to be further opened up, and thus the Xitai Expressway has emerged.

The Xitai Expressway starts at the Wuxi North Hub, where it intersects with the Wuxi-Yixing Expressway and the Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway, and ends at the Xiangcheng West Hub, where it intersects with the Suzhou-Taizhou Expressway. The route has a total length of about 50 kilometers, of which about 9.3 kilometers are within Huishan District.

This project is an important part of "Horizontal Route Nine" in the "Fifteen Rays, Six Vertical, Ten Horizontal" layout of the "Jiangsu Province Expressway Network Plan (2017-2035)," and is also a key project explicitly implemented in the "Jiangsu Province 14th Five-Year Comprehensive Transportation System Development Plan."

The Huishan New Town tunnel section of the Xitai Expressway, which is about to begin construction, is one of the key controlling works of the overall expressway project, with a total length of about 2.9 kilometers.

It is planned to adopt dual-direction six lanes, with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

▲ Rendering of the Huishan New Town tunnel section of the Xitai Expressway

A relevant person in charge of the Huishan District Transportation Bureau introduced that the tunnel section is specifically located beneath the middle section of Jinhui Road (Huiyuan Road-Huijing Road) and is proposed to be constructed using the cut-and-cover method. Because residential areas, schools, and enterprises are densely distributed along the route, temporary traffic-maintenance roads will be set up during construction to ensure the safety and smooth flow of public travel.

▲ On-site photo of the pilot section (800 m) of the traffic-maintenance road

The traffic-maintenance road is located on the south side of the middle section of Jinhui Road (Huiyuan Road-Huijing Road). According to the construction design plan, during construction it will have dual-direction four lanes, with a design speed of 40 kilometers per hour. After the tunnel is completed and the middle section of Jinhui Road (Huiyuan Road-Huijing Road) is reconstructed and restored, the traffic-maintenance road will be demolished. At present, construction of the pilot section (800 meters) of the traffic-maintenance road has been completed.

▲ Schematic diagram of the Jinhui Road (Fengxiang Road Elevated-Xinying Road) reconstruction project

Next, in order to coordinate and advance the construction of the district's road network, the Huishan District Transportation Bureau will simultaneously carry out reconstruction and upgrading of the entire Jinhui Road (Fengxiang Road Elevated-Xinying Road), with plans to turn it into an east-west urban main road. At present, the reconstruction project for the western section (Fengxiang Road Elevated-Huiyuan Road), in conjunction with plot development, has been put on the agenda; the reconstruction projects for the middle section (Huiyuan Road-Huijing Road) and the eastern section (Huijing Road-Xinying Road) will be advanced in stages according to the construction progress of the Xitai Expressway project. The upgrading and reconstruction of the entire Jinhui Road will further optimize the district's road network system and clear the "meridians" of urban traffic.