Zonglan News Client (Cao Zhi, Hou Yancui) — At 10:30 a.m. on October 30, the Pingzan Interchange to Hebei-Shanxi Provincial Border section of the Shitai Expressway expansion project officially opened to traffic. With this, the entire Shitai Expressway expansion project has now been fully completed and opened.
The Shitai Expressway expansion project starts from the Shijiazhuang West Toll Station of the Shijiazhuang Ring Expressway and ends at the Hebei-Shanxi provincial border in Hetaoyuan Village, Tianchang Town, Jingxing County, with a total length of 51.636 kilometers. It is Hebei Province's first expressway expansion project built in a mountainous area. In July this year, the 24.2-kilometer section from the Shijiazhuang West Toll Station to the Pingzan Interchange of the Shitai Expressway expansion project was completed and opened to traffic.
Zhang Qiyun, Commander of the Shitai Expressway Expansion Project Command, introduced that the Shitai Expressway expansion project has a total estimated investment of 8.51 billion yuan. It adopts an expansion and reconstruction plan combining "utilizing the existing route + widening alongside the original road + partially constructing new half-carriageways." The highway has been upgraded from its original two-way four lanes to two-way six or eight lanes, with a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The project includes eight interchanges, one service area, one rest area, five toll stations, 64 bridges, 185 culverts and underpasses, and one tunnel.
As a key construction project in Hebei Province during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the Shitai Expressway expansion project adopted a "design-construction general contracting model along with a "agency construction + supervision" management approach, significantly improving the quality and efficiency of project management. The full opening of the expanded expressway marks a comprehensive upgrade of this vital transportation corridor between Hebei and Shanxi provinces. It reduces travel time between Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan by approximately 20%, greatly improving travel conditions for local communities. The project holds significant importance for strengthening logistics and economic ties between the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Shanxi Province, and for promoting socioeconomic development along the route.
In response to challenges such as limited corridor resources and a high proportion of heavy-duty vehicles, the Shitai Expressway expansion project adopted high-rubber-content rubber-modified asphalt mixtures for its pavement. The three layers of the asphalt pavement structure each use rubber-modified asphalt with different rubber content ratios. Compared to the previous road surface, the newly constructed pavement offers greater structural stability and stronger compressive resistance, while also significantly reducing traffic noise. This has greatly enhanced ride comfort for drivers and passengers.
The Gantao River Bridge is a key controlling project of the Shitai Expressway expansion. Wang Yongliang, head of the third division of the Shitai Expressway expansion project, introduced that to ensure the bridge's timely completion, China State Construction Engineering Corporation—the contractor for the Gantao River Bridge—recently added more than 30 pieces of equipment and over 320 construction workers. By adopting a parallel construction method for both the upper and lower structures of the bridge, construction efficiency has been increased by 50%.
