The first main tower of the Jinhai Avenue Bridge was hoisted Feb 19 by the monster crane ship Da Qiao Hai Ou (Bridge Seagull) with a deviation of merely 2/10,000 in perpendicularity and 2 mm in gap.

The steel tower is 106.8 m (350 ft) high and weighs 2,699 tons. It was hoisted vertically by two cranes in three hours to precisely abut Pier 26. The process, said chief engineer Li Linlin, is nothing short of letting the steel tower "dance ballet" in the air.

First steel tower of the Jinhai Avenue Bridge is hoisted [Photo by Zhong Fan / Zhuhai Daily]

In addition to a scientific plan and drill, the project team deployed the Bridge Seagull to execute the hoisting. The vessel is 118.9 m (390 ft) stem to stern, 48 m (157 ft) in breadth and has a draft of 4.8 m (16 ft). The built-in floating crane has four main hooks together capable of lifting 3,600 tons to 110 m (361 ft), and two auxiliary hooks together able to raise 600 tons to 130 m (427 ft). Both lifting capacity and hosting height rank first among domestic vessels of the same type.

Meanwhile, a "Smart Brain" was developed with digital visualized monitoring technology to control the motion of the steel tower in the air.

The Jinhai Avenue Bridge arch, 1.37 km (.85 miles) long and 49.6 m (163 ft) wide, will be the world's widest cable-stayed structure for highway-railway use. The entire project spans 11.2 km (7 miles) from the Jingwan Tunnel on southern Hengqin Island to the Sanzao Tunnel beneath East Airport Road (S727), just north of the Zhuhai College of Science & Technology campus in Jinwan District. The designated speed is 100 kmph (62 mph) for the dual six-lane highway and 160 kmph (99.5 mph) for the center double-track railway.

Forming part of the Airport Urban Rail Transit Phase II, the bridge across the Modaomen Waterway will cut travel time between south Jinwan and Hengqin Island to 10-15 minutes. Motorists from Gongbei will be able to reach Zhuhai (Jinwan) Airport in 25 minutes.