Zhongkai Expressway is the “seventh horizontal”in the “twelve vertical, eight horizontal, sixteen radial and two rings” of the expressway network planning of Guangdong Province. The “Zhongshan Section” opened for operation this time is connected with Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in the east and the “Jiangmen Section” in the west, which was put into operation in January 2023, forming an important east-west traffic passage between Guangdong Province and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and becoming the traffic corridor and economic corridor of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The total length of Zhongkai Expressway is 129.7km (Zhongshan section is 44.1km long and Jiangmen section is 85.6km long), with a total investment of 45.2 billion yuan. It has the characteristics of large investment volume, complex construction conditions and high ratio of bridge and tunnel (up to 94% in Zhongshan section).
Innovation Points
1. Zhongshan City Section: Design of compound three-dimensional passage of expressway and urban expressway.
2. Torch West Hub: Super-large interchange group intercommunicated with entrance and exit and designed in combination with expressway hub.
3. Structural design of double-layer bridge with various structural forms (Qijiang River Bridge is simply supported double-layer steel truss arch bridge with maximum span and maximum width; The maximum cantilever length of central pier cap beam is 18.1m, leading in China).
4. Torch Service Area: The only selected first batch of zero-carbon pilot projects of the Ministry of Transport of Guangdong province.
5. Landscape Road Tunnel: Eight-lane long-span open-cut tunnel under complex geological and environmental conditions (the excavation width of foundation pit is 45m, the depth is 23m, and the distance from roadside buildings is only 0.8m).
6. Dachangshan Tunnel: The first four-lane super-large cross-section mountain tunnel expanded from single-tube three-lane in-situ under construction in China
7. Cross Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Railway: The heaviest single-span high-speed railway swivel bridge in Guangdong province.
8. Comprehensive environmental protection greening design (fully enclosed sound barrier, noise reduction type bridge expansion joint).
9. Application of UHPC high-strength concrete, GFRP glass fiber reinforcement, polyamide drainage grid, environmental isolation rubber bearing and other new materials and new products.
Achievements
The cable-stayed bridge with main span of 530m with the first new structure system of hybrid PK box girder cable-stayed bridge, won the first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Guangdong Construction Industry Association.
