The first double-deck steel truss bridge in Xinjiang will open to traffic by the end of October. The bridge will largely facilitate transport between Urumqi and the Changji Hui autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Started last September, the bridge will expand the original 100-meter-long Toutunhe Bridge to 901.4 meters, with a two-way, eight-lane upper deck, and a four-lane lower deck across Toutunhe River.

“A sidewalk will be added to the auxiliary lane on the lower deck, so that pedestrians can enjoy the view of a 600-meter-wide lake,” said Zhao Huqiang, the project’s technical director.

Sections of the bridge are being built offsite and will be moved onsite in the middle of April by special trailer transporters. The large assemblies, weighing 120 to 200 tons, are composed of 3,000 small assemblies, totaling 40,000 tons of steel.

“It’s literally like assembling giant Lego blocks, but the biggest challenge is to lift the large assemblies with two crawler cranes weighing 260 tons at the same time,” claimed Tao Qunying, the project’s steel structure engineer.

“Welders have been working at least eight hours a day since we returned from the break in February to finish the work on schedule,” Zhao said.