The longest road tunnel under construction in Xinjiang has been fully operational
On August 6th, the Northern Tianshan tunnel project in Xinjiang was fully operational. The Xinjiang Northern Tianshan tunnel project, with a total length of 11.73 km, is the longest road tunnel under construction in Xinjiang. It is an important part of G577 Highway from Jinghe to Yining that is the key project of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt. Hami is divided into the southern mountain and northern mountain by Tianshan and now the two areas rely mainly on 303 provincial road interchanging.
However, in the face of snow and ice, debris flow and other extreme weather, the road will be closed, which brings great inconvenience to the masses. When the project is completed, the distance between Yili and Urumqi will be shortened by about 100 kilometers, saving more than an hour and greatly facilitating people’s travel. Because of the special climatic conditions and geographical environment of Tianshan in Xinjiang，the construction of roads is extremely challenging.
Mountain water encountering in highway tunnel excavation is a headache problem. As a rock bolt, self drilling anchor bar is mainly used in soft and easy to collapse soft rock stratum, and hollow self drilling rock bolt combined with metal net can strengthen strong weathering or rock broken slope. The installation method generally adopts wind and water impact drilling, and then uses the method of grouting post grouting. The grout injected not only bonds the anchor bar, but also reinforces the broken stratum to ensure the stability of the tunnel portal.
