Guizhou tunnels win intl engineering award

Guizhou's extra-long tunnels of Zheng'an-Xishui Expressway win the "tunneling project of the year" award at the 2021 New Civil Engineer Tunneling Festival in London. [Photo/Guizhou City Express]

The long tunnels on Zheng'an-Xishui Expressway in Southwest China's Guizhou province won the "tunneling project of the year" award at the 2021 New Civil Engineer Tunneling Festival recently held in London.

It's the second time China has won the award since winning with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Initiated by the Institution of Civil Engineering, the award has strict evaluation standards, assessment is based on customer feedback, innovative technologies in design and construction, engineering teams, and eco-friendliness.

Zheng'an-Xishui Expressway is 130 kilometers long with 25 tunnels, three of which are extra-long tunnels and four are high-gas-density tunnels. It is one of the most complicated expressways in its construction due to Guizhou's geological conditions.

Zheng'an-Xishui Expressway is expected to improve traffic and aid economic development in northern Guizhou. [Photo/Guizhou City Express]

The expressway's Taoziya tunnel passes through various geological structures, hydrogeological conditions and lithologic characters. The other, Tianchengba tunnel, passes through 13 layers of coal, seven of which had the potential to spontaneously combust.

The construction team adapted various innovative technologies and built the tunnels safely and on time. Zheng'an-Xishui Expressway opened to traffic on July 1 this year, reducing travel times between Zheng'an and Xishui from 10 hours to 1.5 hours.

The expressway provides convenience for logistics and aids economic development in mountainous areas in northern Guizhou, and benefits the 2.1 million people in neighboring areas who can also use the new road.