Good news has come from the East Sixth Ring Road reconstruction project. The reporter learned yesterday from Beijing Capital Highway Development Group's Capital Construction Company that the main structure of the open-cut section of the East Sixth Ring Road reconstruction project has been completed, and the road is expected to be ready for traffic by the end of the year.

　　On the south side of the Liyuan North Street exit of the East Sixth Ring Road, a 1.8-kilometer-long tunnel has achieved "breakthrough," connecting with the earlier approximately 7.4-kilometer shield-driven section. At the site, workers are installing fire pipes and strong-current supports in the lower compartment, as well as carrying out tunnel interior decoration and decorative panel installation. Subsequently, Beijing Capital Ecological Company will implement the landscaping project. After all construction is completed, vehicles on the existing East Sixth Ring Road section from the Jingha Expressway to Liyuan North Street will be diverted underground, and this section will be transformed into an elevated linear park.

　　Guo Qi, deputy general manager of the East Sixth Ring Road Reconstruction Project Management Office, introduced that the tunnel construction of the East Sixth Ring Road reconstruction project is divided into a shield-driven section and an open-cut section. The open-cut method was adopted because at the south and north ends of the two tunnels, there are sections that need to connect with the ground, where the shield machine cannot operate, so open-cut construction was used to achieve the transition from the shield-driven section to the ground section. On August 21, 2023, the approximately 7.4-kilometer shield-driven section achieved double-line breakthrough. Recently, the main structure construction of the 1.8-kilometer open-cut section has been fully completed. The completion of the main structure of the open-cut section marks a phased victory for the Tuqiao underground interchange, a controlling node of the project, provides a foundation for the subsequent project schedule, and allows vehicular access for the construction of electromechanical, traffic safety, and ancillary works packages.

　　It is worth mentioning that, to ensure driving safety, four fatigue-awakening lighting facilities have been installed in the tunnel to alert drivers and enhance driving safety within the tunnel. The electromechanical system of the East Sixth Ring Road tunnel has also been intelligently upgraded on the basis of the original design specifications, with the addition of millimeter-wave radar. Combined with full-coverage video in the tunnel, this enables full-line dynamic tracking of vehicles in the tunnel, more refined collection of vehicle information along the route, improved tunnel incident detection, and lane-level control within the tunnel, guiding vehicles to drive safely through tunnel broadcasting, information display screens, and indicator signs. In addition, a tunnel intelligent management and control platform has been built covering five major aspects—construction, management, maintenance, operation, and service—to ensure unified command, unified dispatch, and efficient handling, enhance tunnel emergency response capabilities, and effectively reduce tunnel safety risks and hidden dangers.

　　To provide drivers with a good experience, landscaping will subsequently be carried out according to the characteristics of the bridge area. Zhao Long, project manager of the landscaping project for the East Sixth Ring Road reconstruction project at Beijing Capital Ecological Company, introduced that in selecting plant species for landscaping, native plants will be given priority, using where possible native plants such as Chinese pine, Chinese ash, smoke tree, and Sabina vulgaris that are highly resistant, cold-tolerant, drought-tolerant, barren-tolerant, less susceptible to pests and diseases, and easy to manage, while also emphasizing color and seasonal variation to form a sustained and effective stable landscape.

　　It is reported that the East Sixth Ring Road (Jingha Expressway–Liyuan North Street) reconstruction project is a key municipal project implementing the "Beijing Urban Master Plan" and the "Regulatory Detailed Plan for the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center." The project starts from the Jingha Expressway in the south and extends to Liyuan North Street in the north, with a total length of approximately 16.3 kilometers. The road is classified as an expressway, with six lanes in both directions and a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour.