Major construction on Shanghai's Outer-Ring-Road Tunnel was
completed Monday, with the link across the Huangpu River expected
to open for traffic in late June.
The 2,800-meter-long tunnel, which took three years and 1.7 billion
yuan (US$204 million) to build, runs from Sancha Port in Pudong to
Wusong Park in Puxi.
"The project is a milestone in Shanghai's construction history,"
said Chen Bin, deputy general manager of Shanghai Urban
Construction Group, during a brief ceremony yesterday for the link,
also known as the Waihuan Tunnel.
"The project represents the (city's) maiden use of submersion
technology. It also adopted many new techniques such as noise
reduction resolution and escape design," Chen said.
Work on the tunnel, which began in July 2000, was overseen by
Chen's group in cooperation with Hong Kong Construction Works, the
Shanghai Waterway Bureau and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering
Company.
Situated along the northern stretches of the city's Outer-Ring
Road, the tunnel, which includes a 736-meter-long submerged
section, is comprised of three parallel tubes with eight traffic
lanes.
Both of the outer tubes house three fixed single direction lanes
while the middle tube has two lanes that can be adjusted to travel
in either direction according to the traffic situation, Chen
said.
"We have for the first time mixed rubber particles with the
concrete road inside the tunnel so that noise is reduced by
approximately five decibels - a noticeable reduction," Chen
said.
There are two emergency corridors for passengers in between the
three tubes in case of danger.
According to Chen, there is no such facility in the existing Yan'an
Road Tunnel.
Currently, across the Huangpu River traffic in northern parts of
the city remains slow, particularly on the Yangpu Bridge.
(Eastday.com April 29, 2003)