Piling boats and cranes operate on the water. [Photo/WeChat account: rugaofabu] 

The over-water construction of the Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge is currently underway in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. As of Feb 28, 115 piles had been driven in 10 days of work.

In addition, the first construction drawing designs for the anchorage of the north channel bridge, cable tower and understructure of the approach bridge passed an evaluation, meaning construction on the main section of the Zhangjiagang-Jingjiang-Rugao Yangtze River Bridge can now start.

To reduce the risk of anchorage construction, the project team proposed adopting the foundation of the composed base with a continuous wall due to soft soil and high confined ground water.

The north anchorage has a caisson foundation with a plane size of 75mx70m and a height of 57m, which will be the largest caisson foundation for a highway bridge in China after completion.

The cable tower has a gantry steel tower, which is both strong and flexible, allowing a saddle incremental launching method of tower top dragging and pre-deflection to be used for the first time to make incremental launching in the construction process of the main cable saddle easier.