Good news! After nearly 10 years of construction, Beiheng Passage is now in its countdown to full opening!

The eastern section of the passage has entered the final stage of electromechanical commissioning and road construction. It is expected that the main line of the eastern section, excluding Beiheng Passage and other roads, will be completed and ready for traffic by the end of this month.

After the passage is opened to traffic, without congestion, it will take about 30 minutes to drive from the Zhoujiazui Road tunnel at the easternmost end to the Hongqiao hub at the westernmost end.

Recently, at the Huangxing Road exit of the eastern section of the passage, the red characters "Beiheng Passage" have been in place, with clear signs and markings set. Inside the tunnel, construction workers were working intensively on the commissioning of electromechanical equipment.

The passage starts at the Beihong Road interchange of the Middle Ring in the west, and ends at Zhoujiazui Road and Neijiang Road in the east, with a total length of about 19.1 kilometers. From southwest to northeast, the passage successively passes through six administrative districts: Changning, Putuo, Huangpu, Jing'an, Hongkou and Yangpu. It is divided into the eastern section and the western section by Wen'an Road, with the western section stretching about 10.9 kilometers long. In June 2021, the western section was opened to traffic.

The eastern section of the passage under construction starts at the junction of the Tianmu Road interchange and Wen'an Road in the west, is connected with the already opened western section, and ends at Zhoujiazui Road and Neijiang Road in the east, with a total length of about 8.2 kilometers. From west to east, the passage has entrances and exits including Xinjian Road West, Xinjian Road East, Huangxing Road, and Shuangyang Road.

According to the design objective, without traffic congestion, the time spent on the road may be reduced by at least 50% compared to the present.

According to Wu Huaqi, Deputy General Manager of the Third Business Division of Shanghai Chengtou Highway Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., by the end of May, the passage will be ready for traffic. Then, it will lead to the Hongqiao Hub in the west and to Pudong via the Zhoujiazui Road tunnel in the east. From entire Pudong to the Hongqiao hub, it will take 30 to 35 minutes under the current conditions, saving about 30 minutes compared to before.

According to Hou Jianfeng, Chief Engineer of the Third Business Division of Shanghai Chengtou Highway Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., the eastern section of the passage will be ready for traffic by the end of May, and the final works, including the commissioning of electronic mechanical systems, asphalt paving and traffic safety construction, are underway. Asphalt paving is a routine part, but the work is very special this time, as we have to try unmanned paving inside an enclosed tunnel. The biggest challenge is to achieve extremely high positioning accuracy in a weak signal environment.

In the underground with almost no signal, two asphalt pavers and several rollers were working together efficiently without any worker in the cabs. The steaming hot asphalt was neatly spread on the cement surface and then compacted.

How is extremely high positioning accuracy achieved in a non-signal environment? This is possible because the equipment comes with various sensors that can perceive the surroundings in real time and obtain their detailed information, and through algorithmic calculations, the best driving path is planned to complete the work efficiently, said Meng Yuanhua, site manager of asphalt paving and traffic safety in the eastern section of Beiheng Passage from the constructor - STEC Shanghai Road and Bridge (Group) Co., Ltd. Unmanned operation not only increases efficiency by 30% compared to manual operation, but also avoids long-time exposure of workers to the environment of asphalt paving.

Once the main line of the eastern section is completed and opened to traffic, the mainline of Beiheng Passage will be fully operational, Hou said. This will further improve the traffic environment along the line, ease the pressure of regional road traffic, create a new express channel between the areas along the line and the Hongqiao hub, serve the medium and long-distance traffic to and from the key areas in the north, and be of great significance to connecting the Hongqiao and Pudong airports and serving the development of the Yangtze River Delta economic zone.

Many netizens are delighted: After nearly 10 years of waiting, now it is much easier to get around.

Are you looking forward to the upcoming city expressway?