Construction of a bearing platform for one of the main tower piers of the 10-km Honghe Bridge commenced on Oct 10, a major progress after typhoon damage of the last two months.

The 168-m #8 was the first pier tackled by work crews on the key East-West Wing passage in Zhuhai, after installation of an abutting joint. The bearing platform is equivalent in size to 2.3 basketball courts and therefore nearly 100 steel sheet piles have been driven into place. After the bearing platform and other tower pier work are finished, which should occur before Spring Festival, the focus will turn to the bridge tower itself, according to Yang Bincai, chief engineer of the construction company.

As the regulatory project section, #8 pier, along with #s 3, 4, and 9, serves two 500-m composite beam cable-stayed bridges spanning the Hongwan and Modaomen waterways. Pile foundations of the #9 pier have gone through the casting procedure.

South of Zhuhai Avenue, the dual six-lane Honghe Bridge is a pivotal connection between Zhuhai's East and West wings. It starts from Hongwan of Nanping Town, joins the link line of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), and accesses the Guangzhou-Macao Expressway Zhuhai section. The structure is costing about 4 billion yuan ($608 million) with designed speed up to 100 km per hour.

Honghe Bridge rendering [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]