On Wednesday morning, June 20th, with the successful construction of the left main tower of the Guyumen Waterway Bridge, all six main towers on Pingtan Cross-straits Highway-railway Bridge of Fujian have been completed. Over 600 people witnessed the exciting moment on the world's largest offshore operating platform for bridge construction. The completion indicates a significant breakthrough in the construction of China's first cross-straits highway-railway bridge.

Pingtan Cross-straits Highway-railway Bridge (Photo/Hubei Daily)

According to Mr. Zhang Hongxin, Standing Deputy Manager of the project, the Pingtan Cross-straits Highway-railway Bridge is 16.34 kilometres long, making it the longest one of this kind in the world. "The twin-towered bridge includes three cable-stayed sub-bridges for shipping: Yuanhong Channel, Guyumen Waterway and Dalian-Xiaolian Island Waterway bridges. This site was considered before as a forbidden area for building bridges, since strong winds of over 39 km/h blow over this area for more than 300 days a year. So you can see, effective construction time for us is very limited," added Mr. Zhang.

Located in the worst waters for construction with the deepest sea, the fastest waves as well as the strongest wind, the Guyumen Waterway Bridge was built by setting up the world's biggest and unique offshore operating platform between the main beams of Guyumen and Yuanhong waterways bridges. The platform combines functions of both working and living, such as living quarters, offshore concrete factories, a preparation plant of fresh water, a power distribution and supply station and lifting wharves. With a total area of about 60,000 m², the platform is capable of supporting 600 crews to live and work all the year round.

Pingtan Cross-straits Highway-railway Bridge (Photo/Hubei Daily)

According to Mr. Xiao Shibo, Standing Deputy Commander of the project, the main tower completed this time is 158 metres high and has gone through a construction period across a monsoon and a typhoon season. The crews adopted the largest KTY5000 drilling machines and a totally closed and hydraulic climbing form system in accordance with the real shape of the Guyumen Bridge towers during the construction. The main towers have been successfully completed in a year and two months with the on-spot dispatching as well as the real-time monitoring of the wind's situation, the factors of the waves and the ocean currents.

Pingtan Cross-straits Highway-railway Bridge has two decks — the upper one is designed for the six-lane expressway with a maximum speed of 100 km/h while the lower one is built for a top-grade double-track railway with a max speed of 200 km/h. It is a project of vital importance for the newly built Fuzhou-Pingtan Railway Line and the Changle-Pingtan Expressway. After being put into operation, it will shorten the journey from Fuzhou to Pingtan into only half an hour. And what is more, the success of this Bridge will offer very reliable experiences for the bridge building of this kind in the future.