On June 16, 2020, China Communications Construction Corporation announced that the world's largest three-span self-anchored suspension bridge under construction by China Communications Second Aviation Administration, the middle tower of the Yellow River Bridge in Jinan Fenghuang Road, was successfully capped.

Jinan Phoenix Road Yellow River Bridge is invested and built by Jinan City Construction Group and is a north-south traffic main road connecting Jinan New East Station on the south bank of the Yellow River and the Cui Zhai area center on the north bank. The bridge has a total length of 3.7 kilometers. The main bridge is designed with a three-tower (steel tower) self-anchored suspension bridge structure. The main span is 2×428 meters, and the overall width is 61.7 meters. Its bridge span and beam width are among the most similar bridges in the world. . The project is constructed according to the two-way 8-lane first-grade highway standard, taking into account the function of the city's main roads, with space reserved for double-track rail traffic in the middle, with a design speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

The bridge's mid-tower is 126 meters high and it is made of all-steel structure. Located on the Yellow River, the steel structure weighs more than 4,900 tons. "The mid-water tower is one of the key nodes in the construction of the main bridge, and the construction is difficult. It has faced three major problems: the construction of the deep foundation pit of the platform, the safety of the flood season, the large section of the steel tower column, and the lifting and lifting." CCCC Second Aviation Bureau project Chief Engineer Wu Zaixiong introduced.

The middle tower of the bridge uses 35 group pile foundations with a diameter of 2 meters and a length of 100 meters. The size of the bearing platform is 33.2 meters × 23.2 meters × 5 meters. The buried depth of the back cover is about 10.5 meters. At the beginning of the construction, the construction of the middle tower foundation and the lower structure faced severe safety flood risks, and the construction of the bored pile and steel sheet pile cofferdam must be completed within more than four months. Overcoming the effects of severe cold in winter and strong winds in spring, the project department of CCCC Second Aviation Bureau concentrated on advantageous resources and invested up to 5 rigs for 24 hours of continuous operation at the same time, successfully ensuring the safety of the construction of the mid-tower platform.

Because the Yellow River is not navigable and there are no large-scale water lifting equipment near the site, the tower column section cannot be transported and hoisted on water. The project department of China Communications Second Aviation Administration has organized internal and external experts to conduct scheme comparison and demonstration several times. Through optimized design, the length of the tower column is re-divided, and the maximum weight of 375 tons is optimized to 90 tons, which greatly reduces safety risks. At the same time, due to the maximum thickness of the steel tower column wall plate of 60 mm, it is difficult to control the welding deformation. The project team of China Communications Second Aviation Bureau designed the matching connection device, optimized the welding sequence and welding process, and effectively controlled the welding deformation. After the middle tower is capped, the project department will fully push the construction of the main bridge steel box girder. In the second half of this year, the steel box girder of the main bridge can be closed, and the construction of the upper and lower tower columns and the main cable erection will be carried out. The bridge will be opened to traffic.

Jinan Phoenix Road Yellow River Bridge is an important decision made by the Jinan Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government to implement the development of the North Crossing and the construction of the Yellow River New District. It is an important part of the construction of the "Three Bridges and One Tunnel" across the Yellow River Bridge and Tunnel Project in Jinan. After the project is completed, Licheng District, High-tech Zone, and Jiyang District in eastern Jinan will be connected together, which will be of great significance to promote the construction of the new and old kinetic energy conversion pilot zone in Jinan, expand the urban development space, and promote Jinan economic development. Editor/Peng Xue