Huangmao Sea Channel makes breakthroughs in pier construction

The first TY-style pier of the Huangmao Sea Channel Bridge was completed on Oct 13 after more than 10 hours of concrete pouring.

The Huangmao Sea Channel Bridge is part of the Huangmao Sea Channel project and is the world's largest three-tower cable-stayed bridge in terms of span. 

The bridge has 23 TY-style piers and 19 of them will be built by China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group. Constructing this kind of piers is quite rare in bridge construction and poses great difficulty, with the highest security risks.

Construction site of the Huangmao Sea Channel Bridge[Photo by Li Jianshu / Guanhai App]

The TY-style piers are expected to effectively reduce the water resistance ratio and significantly improve the ability of bridge piers to prevent ship collisions due to typhoons, quick water flow, as well as busy shipping traffic in the sea area where the project is located.

In addition, such piers can echo the main design of the bridge's two main towers, which have been dubbed the "Canton Tower on the sea."

The beam on the top of each pier is 37.4 m (40.9 yd) long. Its installation not only had high construction safety requirements, but the concrete used must meet strict requirements in crack resistance. The construction team has made breakthroughs in the design, construction, and acceptance stages, successfully finishing the first application of a TY-style pier in sectional bridges of China's expressways. 

Five main towers of the Huangmao Sea Channel project have now reached more than a half of their designated height. Meanwhile, over 170 m (558 ft) of the east main tower of the Gaolan Port Bridge has been erected and it is expected to be topped before March 2023.

Estimated to be operational in 2024, the Huangmao Sea Channel will team with other projects like the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link to create a cluster of passages crossing the Pearl River and the sea in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, leading the development of the city cluster on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary.