Chongqing expressway project wins top civil engineering award

The west section of the second horizontal line of the Chongqing expressway, celebrated for pioneering the world's first "Five Bridges Simultaneously Rotating" technique, has been awarded the prestigious 21st Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize, also known as the Zhantianyou Prize. This accolade represents the highest honor for civil engineering projects in China.

Built by China Construction Tunnel Corp, the 14.4-kilometer expressway connects the Chongqing-Chengdu Expressway in the west with the Lanzhou-Haikou Expressway in the east. It also links several districts within Chongqing, including Shapingba and Beibei districts, as well as Liangjiang New Area.

The expressway crosses 10 railway lines, and five of its bridges span three heavily trafficked railways where trains pass every three minutes during peak times. The engineering challenge was immense, with the rotating bridges positioned just 2.9 meters from the railway and the bridge bottoms only 0.5 meters above the overhead lines.

The project set three world records: the largest number of bridges in a large-span cluster rotation, the heaviest weight for a rotation involving more than three bridges, and the synchronous swivel of large T-rigid frame bridges, the company said.

The Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize, approved by the Central Committee and the State Council, is a national award established in 1999 by the China Civil Engineering Society and Zhantianyou Development Foundation for Science and Technology.

Video: Li Yixian