A new highway viaduct is under construction in east Suzhou Industrial Park and at its completion by the end of 2014, will pass through the entire industrial park and become part of the city's high-speed central ring road.

From Suhong Road to Wuzhong district boundary line, the 8.4km-viaduct in SIP runs along the axis of Xinghua Street and spans Xiandai Avenue, Susheng Road, Xietang River, Jinji Lake Avenue, Dushu Lake Avenue, and Wusong River. The central ring (Chinese name: Zhonghuan) express road is the heaviest investment from the municipal government, and SIPURD is one of the contractors.

Details are what makes it a top quality road

A ramp to the viaduct

"The viaduct is about seven meters above the ground and two meters higher than the viaduct of inner ring road," said Shen Huafeng, the project manager, explaining that the design offers more comfortable driving experience for drivers both on and under the viaduct.

By using SMA (stone mastic asphalt) as paving material, the noise goes down by 3-5 decibels. The design of transparent sound-proof walls on both sides of the road also creates a pleasant view for drivers. To secure construction quality and road safety, SIPURD requires all building blocks to have a sample made and verified before being put into use in large scale.

The section over Wusong River is the most difficult part. The bridge span is 24.6 meters and creates a record in the country. To solve such problems as steel truss installation, the company reached out to Jiangsu Province Communications Planning and Designing Institute and set up a task force working on these issues.

The construction site of Wusong River Bridge

When it comes to safety, there's no room for even a small mistake
There are a dozen underground pipelines for electricity, gas, and cable buried along Xinghua Street and a small mistake would cause big disasters.

Before breaking ground, SIPURD contacted all the authorities in charge of these underground utilities, asking them to mark the line positions and to assign special contacts for timely solution of problems encountered during construction.

The sound-proof walls

"We figure out a way to avoid high-voltage wire and cable trench," said Ying Wenbing, another project manager. "This minimizes the renovation of current roads, saves time and workforce, and is more environment-friendly."

Planning for the future
There are 16 entries and exits along 8km-viaduct in SIP, which seems too many for a place with little traffic flow now. Project Manager Qian Wenhua said they were "planning for the future". "We've taken into full consideration its development in the next three decades. I believe the design will stand the test of time."

The viaduct over Dushu Lake Avenue

The unsymmetrical design of entry and exit is another feature. "Instead of arranging exits for main roads, as most other expressways do, we set up several bypasses to relieve the traffic pressure on these main roads during peak time." In fact, this is also the first case in the country trying unsymmetrical design in connecting expressway with other main roads.