Pearl River mega bridge anchorages completed

The east and west anchorages of the Shiziyang Link were completed on Thursday, paving the way for the follow-up erection of catwalks and main cables for the mega project spanning the Pearl River estuary in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Completion of the anchorages, critical load-bearing components of a suspension bridge, marks a milestone in the construction of the entire project, said Zhang Xiaolong, chief engineer of the anchorage project of Shiziyang Link.

"An anchorage consists of a foundation, anchor body and anchorage system, and it serves to anchor the bridge's main cables and withstand the tensile force transmitted from the main cables," Zhang told reporters on Thursday during the project's media open day.

Shiziyang Link features two anchorages, east and west, rooted on opposite banks in Shatian town of Dongguan and Nansha district of Guangzhou, he said.

To enhance the bearing capacity of the anchorage foundations, the project team developed an innovative composite anchorage foundation structure featuring circular rock-socketed diaphragm walls, inner liners and rigid top-and-bottom slab connections, Zhang said.

The team also developed an in situ test system for assessing the bearing capacity of deep rock and derived general calculation formulas for bearing capacity and displacement.

"The outcomes bridge technical gaps and offer key references for super-long-span suspension bridges and deep, large foundation pit projects," he added.

Wen Jie, an engineer with the project engineering management department of Guangdong Transportation Group, said Shiziyang Link, with a main span of 2,180 meters, is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2029, with traffic expected to begin soon after.

"Upon the opening of the project to traffic, the travel time from Nansha to Dongguan and Shenzhen in the eastern part of the Pearl River will be cut to merely half an hour, further accelerating the integrated development of the GBA," Wen said.

It currently takes about an hour for vehicles traveling from Nansha to reach Dongguan and Shenzhen, he said.

Stretching approximately 35 kilometers, Shiziyang Link starts from Nansha and terminates in Humen and Shatian towns of Dongguan, according to Wen.

The project consists of the river-crossing main bridge and land approach bridges. It is the first double-deck composite highway passage at the Pearl River estuary and the world's first double-deck steel truss suspension bridge with a main span exceeding 2,000 meters.

The state-of-the-art bridge is a global leader in several key specifications, including the 130-meter diameter of its anchorage foundations, the 342-meter height of its steel plate composite main towers, the 2,180-meter span of its double-deck suspension bridge, the 1.5-meter diameter of its main cables and its number of lanes — 16 lanes in total, arranged as two-way traffic on two decks.

Construction of the bridge began in 2023. It is another mega infrastructure project spanning the Pearl River estuary, following the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link.

As a landmark transportation project during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), Shiziyang Link will, upon completion, form a cluster of river-crossing and sea-spanning passages together with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link and Nansha Bridge.

"Together with surrounding road and highway networks, it will foster a one-hour metropolitan circle and boost in-depth connectivity within the GBA, including the nine Guangdong cities plus the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions," Wen said.