Xixi River Extra Large Bridge Fully Opened, Breaking Key Bottleneck on Yipan Expressway’s Jinyang-Ningnan Section
According to Xinhua News Agency, the central span closure of the right main carriageway of Xixi River Extra Large Bridge, a core control project on the Jinyang-Ningnan stretch of the G4216 Yibin-Panzhihua Expressway, has been completed after six years of intensive construction work. The full dual carriageway opening clears one of the most challenging engineering barriers along this expressway segment.
The bridge sits at the border of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, straddling the boundary between Jinyang and Butuo counties within Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, and faces Qiaojia County of Yunnan across the river. Stretching 1.4 kilometres in total, this separated bridge crosses a tributary of the Jinsha River, with cliff faces rising nearly 400 metres above the water on both banks. Construction teams confronted a string of harsh natural and logistical constraints throughout the build. Local rock formations suffer severe weathering; temporary access roads on the right carriageway had to be built vertically against sheer cliff walls, while the route repeatedly intersects with National Highway G353. The dry-hot river valley environment brings sustained high temperatures, strong gusts and seasonal flash floods, creating heavy pressure for construction safety, ecological protection and traffic coordination.
Engineers rolled out a dual-focused “bridge stabilisation plus mountain reinforcement” construction scheme to tackle hazards posed by cliffside loose rock. Deeply embedded rock-socketed pile foundations secure the bridge piers, while lightweight working platforms reduce ground load and disturbance to slope surfaces. Workers carried out high-altitude clearance of unstable rock masses, installed protective netting and drove deep anchor cables to stabilise mountain slopes and block falling debris. A complete technical suite for mitigating rockslide risks in mountainous terrain was developed on site, earning two national invention patents and the first-class prize from the China Communications and Transportation Association’s science and technology awards, delivering a replicable technical template for expressway projects built within alpine canyon landscapes.
Specialised low-temperature constant-temperature closure technology was deployed to counteract drastic mountain temperature swings that threaten structural integrity. Continuous 48-hour temperature monitoring guided crews to complete single-stage pouring during pre-dawn hours with stable ambient temperatures, eliminating structural risks such as beam cracking and alignment displacement.
Yibin-Panzhihua Expressway ranks as China’s single largest investment expressway project and the longest highway development scheme within Sichuan province. Spanning 446 kilometres and funded by Shudao Investment Group, the four-lane carriageway carries a design speed of 80 kilometres per hour, split into three construction segments: Pingshan Xinshi to Jinyang, Jinyang to Ningnan, and Ningnan to Panzhihua. Sixty kilometres of the Jinyang-Ningnan section have been finished, with other complex key projects advancing steadily.
Journey times between Jinyang and Ningnan counties will fall from three hours to one and a half hours following the bridge’s opening. The infrastructure upgrade will mark the first highway connection for both Jinyang and Butuo counties, streamlining outbound logistics for local special agricultural goods including green prickly ash. Upon full completion of the entire expressway corridor, travel time between Yibin and Panzhihua will shrink from ten hours to six hours, establishing a new major transport artery linking Sichuan to outside regions. Improved connectivity lifts revenue streams for industries in ethnic minority areas and advances rural revitalisation, refining the comprehensive three-dimensional transport network of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and deepening cross-border collaborative growth between Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
