China completes world’s longest expressway tunnel in Xinjiang VIDEO

The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, now the world’s longest expressway tunnel, was completed on Monday morning after overcoming significant challenges in the snow-capped mountains of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Part of the vital Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, the tunnel stretches 22.13 kilometres and runs through the Tianshan Mountains, one of the world’s longest mountain ranges, Caliber.Az reports per Xinhua.

The tunnel, currently under construction since April 2024, will provide a much-needed route to southern Xinjiang.

When it opens in 2025, the tunnel will reduce travel time across the Tianshan range from three hours to just 20 minutes. Furthermore, it will shorten the journey from Urumqi, the regional capital, to Korla, a major city in southern Xinjiang, from over seven hours to around three hours.

Building the tunnel presented numerous challenges, particularly due to its location on a high plateau with complex geological conditions. Engineers adopted an innovative construction method, utilizing a design involving three drifts and four shafts. Two specially designed tunnel boring machines were employed to excavate the middle drift and create a working platform for further tunnelling.

This marks the first time in China that tunnel boring machines have been used in the construction of a road tunnel, setting a significant technical milestone. The use of advanced technologies has expedited the project, reducing the construction time from an estimated 10 years using traditional drilling methods to just over four years.

By Aghakazim Guliyev