Highway linking Yan’an city and its airport under construction

The rotation project of Pier 3 of the Nanniwan Airport Bridge on the Yan'an East Ring Expressway, undertaken by Xi'an Company of the China Railway Seventh Bureau, completed the installation of the spherical hinge on the top of the pier on March 21, laying a solid foundation for full connection of the Yan'an East Ring Expressway.

The overall width of the bridge deck for this project is 33.6 meters. The weight of the swivel, part of what is currently the highest and largest high-level swivel bridge project in the world, is 24,500 tons.

The project is the most critical and controlling element of the Yan'an East Ring Expressway.

To ensure the smooth implementation of bridge rotation, the project construction team inspected several domestic ball joint manufacturers, taking into account factors such as construction period and engineering safety and quality. After multiple investigations and investigations, the final choice was to use an integrated bearing ball joint with a diameter of 4.75 meters, a total height of 0.47 meters, a weight of about 35 tons, and a bearing capacity of up to 25,000 tons.

During the project construction process, the builder continuously optimizes the construction plan, measures, and identifies and warns of potential risks through verification, BIM modeling, and simulation of the construction process, ensuring safety and quality.

The Yan'an East Ring Expressway project is located in the southeast of Yan'an city, Shaanxi province. It is an important component of the planned expressway layout in Yan'an, and will connect the eastern area of Yan'an New Area and the newly built Yan'an Nanniwan Airport.