The right passage of the west line tunnel in the north section of the Xingye Express was drilled through on May 14, while further work like main structure and ventilating shaft construction, as well as mechanical and electrical installation are underway.

The 5.7-km (3.5-mile) west line tunnel is the longest mined tunnel of the Xingye Express and is much longer than the 3.6-km (2.2-mile) Jialin Mt Tunnel in downtown Zhuhai. Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering were invited to serve as consultants to the tunnel's construction as it goes through Fenghuang (Phoenix) Mt, thus faces complicated geological conditions and high construction risks.

Construction site of the west tunnel in the north section of the Xingye Express [Photo courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The Y-shaped north section stretches 17 km (11 miles), with the part running from East Meihua Road to Fenghuang Mt in the north being a combined dual six-lane tunnel. Further north, precast beams are being installed for an elevated valley part from where the north section will be separated into the east and west lines heading to different areas in Tangjiawan. 

The east line will go under Jishan Community, Sun Yat-sen University's Zhuhai campus, and head towards Tangle Road alongside Gangwan Avenue, while the west line will go over East Jintang Road and end at Hagongda Road and the Gaoxin Interchange.

Once operational, it will take about 15 minutes to finish the whole journey from Meihua Road to Tangjiawan with a designed speed of 60 km/h (38 mph).

The north-south Xingye Express is an important part of Zhuhai's "Eight Horizontal & 11 Vertical" skeleton road network, which will allow downtown motorists to access express roads in 15 minutes. 

Apart from the north section, the express's south section is under construction and the Yingbin Road Feeder is almost completed. Its south extension section is currently being planned to connect the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB)'s and future Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in Tangjiawan. It will start from Jiuzhou Avenue, go through Jiangjun Mt, and end at HZMB 's artificial island.