"Sitting on the bus, we drove all the way to the mountains. The sands, Gobi and barren mountains became more and more desolate, and our hearts became more and more desolate." This is the true feeling of a college student who has just walked from the university campus to the construction site of Wuwei Expressway Project. Apart from the construction personnel and vehicle personnel, there were almost no other people on the way. This is not only a desolate and uninhabited no man's land, but also a national nature reserve. Before crossing this no man's land, there was only the National Highway 315, but now there is a highway that will cross the northern and southern Xinjiang, namely the Wuwei Expressway. The total length of the project is more than 1300 kilometers, with a total investment of 70.8 billion yuan. Many countries in the world do not understand why China wants to build such a costly highway in the desert. They think that China is making money!

Wuwei Expressway flows smoothly from north to south of Tianshan

In March 2020, on a wasteland in Xinjiang, the excavator group lifted the bucket, and the construction personnel arranged in order. After a salute, the Wuwei Expressway, which starts from Urumqi in the north and ends at Yuli County in the south, was officially started. The Wuwei Expressway is the first highway corridor out of Xinjiang, from Urumqi to Yuli on the G0711 line, from Yuli to the 35th Regiment on the G0711 line, from the 35th Regiment on the G0711 line to Ruoqiang on the G0612 line, from Yitunbulak to Ruoqiang on the G0612 line S254 consists of five subprojects from Yuli to Qiemo, which is a part of Urumqi Ruoqiang National Expressway G0711. The whole Urumqi Yuli Project of G0711 Line is constructed according to the standard of expressway, with two-way four lane; Weiqi Highway connects Yuli County and Qiemo County. It is located in the Tarim Basin between the southern slope of Tianshan Mountain and the northern foot of Altun Mountain. It passes through the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert, with a total length of 334 kilometers, including 307 kilometers in the desert. It is the longest desert highway under construction, the most widely distributed mobile dunes, the worst construction conditions and the most difficult construction in the world. The project is an important part of Altay Urumqi Korla Ruoqiang, the third vertical of the six horizontal and six vertical lines in Xinjiang, and also an important part of the national highway network planning.

The mouth of the Tianshan Victory Tunnel is 2800 meters above sea level, which is the throat of the expressway and the longest expressway tunnel under construction in the world. The total length of the tunnel is close to the sum of the five Nanjing Yangtze River Bridges. The Wuwei Expressway where it is located is almost parallel to the most beautiful highway in China, Duku Highway. Their ultimate goal is to cross the rugged Tianshan Mountain. "The premise of grasping the construction is to ensure the quality. We adhere to the craftsmanship spirit of excellence in the construction of Wuwei Expressway to build a century old project." Liu Hongbo, general manager of CCCC Xinjiang Communications Investment Development Co., Ltd., said. Quality control is throughout the project construction, for example, centralized procurement of construction materials strictly rejects materials that do not meet the quality standards, increases safety and quality training for construction personnel, improves the rules and regulations of all links, and establishes a multi-party quality supervision mechanism. Entering the construction site of Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, we can see this rigorous craftsmanship spirit everywhere. There are four calipers standing in the tunnel, which are 6m long, and there is a semicircular gap every 20cm. Workers must take the calipers as the standard when installing the reinforcement reinforcement of the tunnel wall to ensure the accuracy of the reinforcement spacing. After the reinforcement installation is completed, the quality inspector will conduct random sampling inspection. Once the reinforcement spacing is found to be inconsistent with the regulations, it will be treated accordingly. The concrete shall be poured after the reinforcement installation meets the standard, and then the next section of reinforcement shall be welded. Tuo Wen, the welder, took the welding gun and stood on the stool to carefully weld the two steel bars together He said. Precise, careful and using the scale to repair the tunnel is the construction method of infrastructure maniac.

The construction period of Tianshan Shengli Tunnel will be as long as 72 months according to the previous auxiliary construction scheme of inclined shaft. To solve the problem of long construction period, The constructors put forward the world's first construction scheme of "three holes+four shafts". The three holes is to add a pilot tunnel between the left and right holes of the traditional tunnel to assist the tunnel construction, and shorten the construction period by cutting the whole tunnel. If you want to do well, you must first use your tools. In 2020, "Tianshan" and "Shengli" roadheader will be introduced at both ends of Tianshan Shengli Tunnel to drive in opposite directions. The roadheader is like a steel "pangolin", moving forward bit by bit. When both sides "meet" in the middle of the tunnel, the tunnel will run through. The tunnel slag generated by mountain excavation does not need to be manually transported, but is continuously transported out through the conveyor belt erected on the top of the tunnel. "The tunnel slag is not dumped at once. It should be processed in the gravel processing plant and used as raw materials for tunnel construction." Huang Dengxia, a construction worker of CCCC First Highway Engineering Co., Ltd., said. Both tunnel excavators are independently innovated and developed by China, and the Big Mac tailored for the Tianshan Victory Tunnel is a well deserved heavy weapon of a big country. The four shafts are ventilation shafts, with the maximum depth of 702 meters. This height is 80 meters higher than the highest building in China, Shanghai center Building. There are four such shafts in the whole tunnel, which together form the breathing system of the tunnel. Finally, the builders controlled the effective construction period of the tunnel to 52 months, filling the gap in the construction technology of super long tunnels in China, and becoming a landmark achievement in the field of highway construction in China.

New mode of medium pilot tunnel+long tunnel short drilling

Li Peng, 36, is the Deputy Manager of the Fifth Bid Section of Wuwei Civil Works of Xinjiang Wuwei Highway PPP Project of CCCC. He came to Tianshan Shengli Tunnel in 2020, which is the fourth project he has participated in for more than 10 years. Li Peng is the first time to participate in the construction of such a long tunnel. "When I first arrived at the project and looked at the Tianshan Mountain in front of me, I wondered when this would be completed." Once, a large area of collapse occurred in the tunnel. Li Peng put down his work and ran into the tunnel. He first organized the evacuation of on-site personnel, and then led people to clean up the rubble in the tunnel. In order not to allow the mountain to continue to collapse, new support methods must be adopted to fix the mountain. After discussion, Li Peng and technicians decided to embed "I" shaped steel bars on the mountain first, and then spray concrete to stabilize the mountain. After that, we carefully drove through this section of easy collapse.

The collapse of the mountain also affects the work of Cui Huaxin, the TBM operator. When a large area of collapse occurs, the gravels will jam the cutter head of the machine. If forced to rotate, the cutter head will be damaged. It is the first time to use TBM to excavate tunnels in the field of highway construction in Xinjiang. When operating TBM, it is necessary to accurately understand geological parameters and predict possible emergencies in advance. "Once I heard the sound of a stone falling, and quickly slowed down the speed of the cutter head." Cui Huaxin could not dig even if he did. He can only slowly turn the TBM cutter head. If it can't move in the forward direction, it will turn in the reverse direction. If it still can't move, it will back and turn again until TBM can slowly dig.

Li Peng said that now more than 6000 meters of pilot tunnels have been excavated at the inlet end, and it is expected to be completed by 2023. During the National Day, thousands of builders sacrificed their rest time and insisted on construction at their posts. Now it is in a critical period, and the construction can not be stopped. Everyone gives up the rest time to dig Tianshan Mountain as soon as possible.

Transportation drives the formation of Xinjiang's big economic circle

Through the Central Asia Economic Corridor, Xinjiang has taken out a strong transportation network to lay a good foundation for economic development. The relevant person in charge of the transportation department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said that with the help of the National Highway Network Planning, he would make up for the shortcomings of the highway network, and strive to reach 220000 kilometers of highway mileage in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region by the end of the "14th Five Year Plan", and the trunk highways in Xinjiang would form a ring network. The expressway network in Xinjiang will cover the vast area of Xinjiang like a visible hand, with national highways attached. The highways extend to every corner of the territory like capillaries. After the completion of the whole Urumqi Weiwei Expressway, the mileage from Urumqi to Korla will be shortened by about 200 kilometers compared with the current situation, and the driving distance will be shortened from more than 7 hours to about 3 hours. Bypassing Tianshan Mountain and climbing Tianshan Mountain are far from meeting the economic needs. In the past decade, the highway projects that cross Tianshan Mountain have been implemented in succession and have constantly broken through the limits. The builders have built the eastern Baha Highway along Tianshan Mountain. The Wuwei Expressway in the middle line is about to be completed, and the Duku Expressway in the western line is also in the process of preparing. They will all cross Tianshan Mountain and become sharp swords through the northern and southern Xinjiang. This road closely links Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Beijing, and connects Beijing and European countries on the Asian transportation trunk line, becoming the hardware support of major strategies such as the New Silk Road and China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

From the western development to the policy support of the the Belt and Road strategy, Xinjiang has undergone tremendous changes. The Xinjiang economic circle will further open the western gate of China under the transportation advantage. In the future economic and social development planning, Xinjiang has proposed to build six major central cities, forming a development pattern of one main and five secondary centers with Urumqi as the main center and Kashgar, Yining, Korla, Karamay and Aksu as the secondary center, Create a new urban economic circle. Only by doing well in the economic construction of the the Belt and Road can Xinjiang truly become a springboard for China to enter the Central Asian market.Editor/Xing Wentao