On September 30, the Hongqili Channel Rail-cum-Road Bridge on the Shenzhen–Jiangmen Railway achieved a high-precision, stress-free closure. As a key control project of the railway and a vital link connecting Nansha in Guangzhou to Zhongshan, the bridge features a complex structural design and presents significant construction challenges, with an urban expressway on the upper deck and high-speed rail tracks on the lower deck.

The team led by Associate Professor Ma Niujing of the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation (SCET) at South China University of Technology (SCUT) undertook construction monitoring for the entire bridge. The team developed refined control techniques for long-span steel-truss cable-stayed bridges and integrated the BeiDou high-precision positioning system for around-the-clock dynamic monitoring. This enabled a natural, stress-free closure without counterweights or tie rods, effectively reducing secondary structural stresses and ensuring the bridge’s long-term service safety.

Following major projects such as the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge and the Shenzhen–Zhongshan Link, the bridge marks yet another occasion on which SCUT’s cutting-edge research has contributed to a major infrastructure project in the Greater Bay Area.