en.Wedoany.com Reported - On May 15, as the final steel box girder section MH30 was steadily hoisted into place and precisely connected with the steel truss girders at both ends, the world's longest-span steel-UHPC composite girder cable-stayed bridge—the Zhijiang Bailizhou Yangtze River Bridge in Hubei, China—was successfully closed.
It is reported that Zhijiang Bailizhou is the largest alluvial island in the Yangtze River, covering a total area of 212 square kilometers. Renowned for its abundant sand pears, it is hailed as the "Hometown of Chinese Sand Pears." With the bridge's closure, the history of Bailizhou relying solely on boats for travel will come to an end. The river crossing time for the island's 100,000 residents will be reduced from dozens of minutes to just a few minutes. The transportation costs for agricultural products such as sand pears and cotton grown on the island are expected to drop by about 40%, effectively solving the problem of "bumper harvests without corresponding income increases." This will open up new opportunities for local production, daily life, industrial layout, and cultural exchange, further solidifying the transportation foundation for the integrated development of the Yichang-Jingzhou-Jingmen metropolitan area and the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
The Zhijiang section of the waterway where the bridge is located features a mix of shallow and dangerous channels with complex and variable water conditions, posing severe challenges to the closure hoisting construction and vessel navigation. The Yichang Waterway Bureau of the Yangtze River comprehensively assessed changes in the navigation environment. In response to the high technical requirements for steel box girder hoisting and the complex water conditions, the bureau formulated a specialized navigation mark layout and waterway maintenance plan, and implemented 24-hour dedicated emergency duty rotations.
Since the bridge construction began in 2022, the Yichang Waterway Bureau of the Yangtze River has completed a total of 412 on-site patrols, 347 drone patrol flights, 2,426 digital waterway online inspections, optimized and adjusted 46 navigation marks, and restored 36 malfunctioning navigation marks. Meanwhile, the bureau promptly and accurately broadcast waterway conditions and navigation safety information to passing vessels via VHF radio, effectively guiding ships to pass through the construction area in an orderly manner. Through a series of safeguard measures, the safety, smooth flow, and orderliness of the waterway within the jurisdiction were ensured during the bridge closure operation.
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