On October 15, 2020, China Communications Construction issued an announcement that the steel box girder of the main bridge of Shandong Jinan Phoenix Yellow River Bridge, the widest bridge on the Yellow River, which was constructed by the Second Aviation Administration of China, was successfully closed.

Jinan Phoenix Yellow River Bridge is the 12th bridge across the Yellow River in Jinan. It is one of the “three bridges and one tunnel” in Jinan’s new and old kinetic energy conversion pilot area. The main bridge is a three-tower self-anchored suspension bridge. The Phoenix Yellow River Bridge has created many world’s longests. The main bridge is 1,332 meters long, with a main span of 2×428 meters and a full width of 61.7 meters. It is the widest bridge on the Yellow River. Its bridge span and beam width are of the same type. The best bridge in the world. The bridge is constructed in accordance with the two-way eight-lane first-class highway standard, taking into account the function of the city's main road, and the design speed is 60 kilometers per hour.

The large-span, ultra-wide bridge deck provides great convenience for personnel and vehicles, but also brings great challenges to the construction. “The construction of the super-large steel structure in the non-navigable waters of the Yellow River is one of the four major problems we are facing.” said Han Jinglei, the project leader of the Second Aviation Administration of China Communications, said: “Our main bridge steel box girder weighs 47,000 tons in total, and the maximum section weight About 400 tons. Because the Yellow River is not navigable, there is no large-scale water lifting equipment, the steel box girder is heavy in weight and wide in breadth, making on-site construction difficult and risky."

In response to this problem, the project department of CCCC Second Aviation Administration adopted the method of ant moving, the main bridge steel box girder construction was based on the principle of "three places" construction mode, that is, the steel structure manufacturing base made unit parts, The construction method of Jinan assembling site and lifting beam welding at the bridge position maximizes the use of the superior resources of factory standardization, mechanization, and automated processing to improve the overall efficiency of the site.

In autumn in Jinan, the temperature difference between day and night is as much as 20 ℃, and the change of thermal expansion and contraction of the main bridge steel box girder is as high as 20 centimeters under the influence of the temperature difference between day and night. "We locked the steel box girder at the closure of the pier. With the help of the longitudinal sliding device installed on the top of the temporary pier, we overcome the problem of large-span steel box girder expansion and contraction under the influence of temperature stress, and finally achieved millimeter-level high-precision closure. "Said Han Jinglei, project leader of the China Communications Second Aviation Administration.

Overcoming all kinds of difficulties, CCCC Second Navigation Bureau adopted special construction methods to make full preparations for the smooth closure of the bridge. After Jinan Phoenix Yellow River Bridge is completed and opened to traffic, it will be of great significance to Jinan City's strategic goal of realizing the construction of the new and old kinetic energy conversion pilot area, solving the traffic congestion dilemma, and expanding the urban development space. The bridge will be "same-level layout and public rail joint construction". It also allows citizens on both sides of the Yellow River to choose to cross the river by car, bus, or rail, and they can also choose to cross the Yellow River by walking or biking. Editor/Peng Xue