The Dream Factory of China

Source :Shenzhen Daily

Boring work on the right side of the Mawan Undersea Passage tunnel project had topped 1,000 meters, or nearly halfway of the right side, as of Monday, a source from the Shenzhen Municipal Transport Bureau said.

The whole tunnel project is said to have the widest diameter among undersea tunnel boring projects that are under construction in China. Construction on the project will be completed in the last quarter of this year.

The contractor used a domestically made tunnel boring machine (TBM), which is 15.53 meters in diameter, to start the Mawan Undersea Passage tunnel project in July last year. The TBM is about 140 meters long, five stories high and weighs 4,650 tons. The TBM’s cross section is about six times the size of a regular TBM used for Metro work.

The tunnel project is part of the 8.05-kilometer Mawan Undersea Passage, which is mainly tasked with cargo traffic at Mawan, Chiwan and Shekou ports, as well as some passenger traffic to the port areas.

The passage starts at the intersection of Mawan and Yueliangwan boulevards and ends at the intersection of Dachan Bay Toll Station of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Riverside Expressway. It includes a 2.5-kilometer road in Qianhai, a 1.1-kilometer undersea tunnel and a 4.45-kilometer road in the Dachan Bay area.

The tunnel on the passage’s right side spans about 2.06 kilometers and the TBM has entered the undersea section in Qianhai Bay on Jan. 8, 2022, after boring 700 meters from Dachan Bay.

As Shenzhen’s first super-large undersea tunnel, the passage is expected to alleviate the traffic pressure in the Qianhai area when it is put into operation in 2023. At the same time, freight traffic will be diverted away from the coastline, which will open up coastal space and enhance Qianhai’s urban environment and landscape.