On September 25, 2021, the Chibi Yangtze River Highway Bridge, designed by China Railway Bridge Institute and constructed by China Railway Bridge Bureau, was officially opened to traffic. The completion and opening of the bridge has shortened the journey from Honghu city to the Chibi High-speed Railway Station from more than two hours to one hour, and entered the era of "Bridge Economy".

The bridge is the largest span steel-concrete composite beam cable-stayed bridge in the world. Steel-concrete composite girder, that is, concrete is laid on the steel girder of the bridge, and the steel girder and the concrete panel are formed as a whole through the connecting pieces. Compared with reinforced concrete beams, the structure has lighter weight, shorter construction period, and better ductility of the beam. Compared with steel beams, it can reduce the amount of steel used, enhance the rigidity, and the stability, integrity and durability of the beam.

The "skeleton" of the entire bridge is composed of 121 main steel-concrete beams. Each main steel concrete beam includes 2 box-shaped main beams, 3 beams, 1 longitudinal beam and concrete main bridge deck. It is interlocked with the stay cable installation, and the accuracy of the docking between each "behemoth" is within 3 mm. Although this structure has obvious advantages, the construction difficulty will increase geometrically as the span of the bridge increases. Faced with many challenges such as heavy project construction tasks, complex geological conditions, and high technological requirements, China Railway Bridge Bureau has strengthened technical research, achieved a number of important technological innovations, obtained 4 patents, published 5 papers, and obtained 1 provincial and ministerial construction method. The rich experience accumulated in the construction process has important reference significance for future bridge projects of the same type.

Since the construction of the bridge started in March 2018, the builders of the China Railway Bridge Bureau have experienced the superimposed impact of extreme floods, high temperatures and the new crown pneumonia epidemic. Faced with the urgent construction deadline, the project department optimized the construction plan on the one hand, and seized the delayed construction schedule by fighting for more time points. During the Spring Festival of 2021, in response to the national call for "Chinese New Year in situ", more than 300 people participating in the construction of the bridge stayed at the construction site to initiate a sprint for the construction of the bridge to ensure that the bridge was opened to traffic on schedule.

After the bridge was closed on March 16, the construction site of the Chibi Yangtze River Highway Bridge was still in full swing. The 200-meter-long main tower of the bridge towered into the sky, and the forests of machinery and equipment were constantly working on the bridge deck, and more than 200 bridge builders stood by it. The construction was intense and orderly under the scorching sun, and it only took four months for the builders to complete the construction from closing to traffic conditions.

As a Honghu native, Huang Wei, Director of Safety and Environmental Protection of the Second Division of the Chibi Yangtze River Bridge Project of China Railway Bridge Bureau, recalled: "I remember going to Chibi to visit relatives when I was young. When the weather is bad, it will be forced to suspend navigation. So as soon as I heard that the Chibi Yangtze River Bridge would be built, I immediately signed up." Now that the bridge is finally opened to traffic, the Honghu and Chibi people’s dream of "changing the sky into a thoroughfare" for generations has been realized. Huang Wei is very proud to be able to contribute to the construction of his hometown: "The day we are looking forward to has finally arrived.

The bridge is a control project of "National Highway Network Planning" and "Hubei Province Skeleton Highway Network Planning", and it is also the first demonstration project on the Yangtze River that adopts the PPP model for construction and management. At the same time, the bridge is also a super large bridge project spanning the Yangtze River from Tianmen to Chibi, a branch of Suiyue Expressway. The bridge can effectively communicate with southern Hubei, northern Hunan, western Jiangxi and Jianghan Plain, increase the mobility of the road network, optimize the structure of the road network, and improve operational efficiency. Editor/Tian Zengpeng