Majestic Xiang’an Tunnel

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Xiangan Tunnel,a magnificent project, has not only realized the Xiamen people’s hundred-year dream of reaching the other side through the seabed. It will be written in history as a milestone. It is China’s first undersea tunnel and the undersea road tunnel with a cross section larger than any other tunnel in the world which used the drilling and blasting method.

This tunnel bears the dream and expectation of generations of people, the constructors’ hard work over 1,700 days and nights, and the wisdom and strength of all construction units. It is a fruit of democratic decision making and scientific development.

The geological conditions of Xiang’ an Tunnel were quite complicated. The tunnel would only come into being after overcoming various obstacles such as heavily weathered shallow stratums, shallow water-rich sand layers and undersea weathered slots. The whole project is large-scale but with little engineering experience, high technical difficulty, high construction risk and wide social impact. In particular, the undersea weathered slot was even regarded a world-level difficulty by experts.

This is a groundbreaking project.A lot of valuable experience had been gained, and a number of key technologies have been mastered, which provides an important reference for China’s future undersea tunnel constructions. As China’s first undersea tunnel, the surveying, design and construction were all independently carried out by China. It is an excellent project and a great breakthrough with quality, quantity and security all guaranteed. This successful project has fully demonstrated China’s strength and technological innovation in the field of undersea tunnel construction, and has enriched and developed the world’s undersea tunnel construction technologies

At the same time, Xiangan Tunnel is also an exploratory project. Some shortcomings and regrets are inevitably left to be studied and overcome during subsequent undersea tunnel projects.For example, still more improvements and research are required for the grouting reinforcement materials and technologies for undersea soft stratum, the supporting mechanization for undersea tunnel construction, the level control of risky events during undersea constructions, the research and development of exclusive devices for emergencies, and the humanized design methods with full consideration of convenient management and maintenance.