New expressway passes handover inspection, connecting river island with mainland

By Chen Zai

The Dangyang–Zhijiang–Songzi Expressway, including the Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge, has passed its handover inspection. It will connect Bailizhou, an island in the Yangtze River, with the mainland for the first time. The project is preparing for trial operation and is scheduled to open to traffic by the end of this year.

Zhijiang section of the Dangyang–Zhijiang–Songzi Expressway. Photo by Huang Xiang.

The 75-kilometer expressway, with an investment of about 15.8 billion yuan (US$2.38 billion), is a key project in Hubei's 14th Five-Year Plan for transportation. It connects Yichang’s Dangyang, Zhijiang with Jingzhou City’s Songzi and links up four expressways: Shanghai–Chengdu, Wuhan–Chongqing, Shanghai–Chongqing, and Yueyang–Yichang.

The expressway includes the Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge and the Songzi River Bridge, which lies to the north and south of the Bailizhou river island. Connecting the long-isolated island with urban Zhijiang, the 1,549-meter Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge has an 890-meter main span. It is the world's longest-span steel-UHPC composite-girder cable-stayed bridge under construction.

Workers install the nameplate for the Zhijiang Yangtze River Bridge on the main tower's crossbeam.

The expressway will further improve the Yichang–Jingzhou–Jingmen one-hour transportation network and cut river crossings from hours to just five minutes for Bailizhou’s 100,000 residents.