Yellow River Highway Bridge | 7.748 km Multifunctional Mega Project Opens

The Jinan Yellow River Highway Bridge on the G104 Jinglan Line, in which Jinhuan Steel Structure Engineering Co., Ltd. participated in construction, has officially opened to traffic. Spanning 7.748 km, this is China’s first five-in-one multifunctional 'super' transportation complex project. Its opening further improves Jinan’s cross-Yellow River road network, enhances travel between the main urban area and the New District, and optimizes the overall bridge and tunnel layout across the Yellow River.

Project Overview

The G104 Jinglan Line Jinan Yellow River Highway Bridge has a total length of 7.748 km and a design speed of 80 km/h. It is the nation’s first five-in-one multifunctional transportation complex. The bridge adopts a three-layer structure:

• Upper layer: 8-lane expressway and urban arterial road
• Middle layer: double-track rail transit
• Lower layer: urban trunk road

The project integrates multiple functions, including urban trunk road, expressway, rail transit, highway, and national trunk road. It is also the first unequal-span combined bridge across the Yellow River, with the largest span and the longest total steel bridge length among similar cross-river highway-rail combined bridges.

Jinhuan’s Role in the Project

Jinhuan Construction Group undertook the fabrication, steel structure processing, and on-site installation of the South Dike Crossing 100+140+100 m continuous steel truss bridge as part of the bridge expansion project, with a total workload exceeding 9,000 tons.

Unlike common steel box girder bridges, this is a two-level steel truss bridge carrying both highway and rail traffic:

• Upper layer: 8-lane highway
• Lower layer: double-track rail transit

The structure features numerous joint connections, complex load-bearing conditions, and relies mainly on bolt connections rather than welding. With more than 800,000 bolt holes required, the project demanded extremely high machining accuracy and posed significant manufacturing and installation challenges.

Overcoming Technical Challenges

For this first-of-its-kind double-deck steel truss bridge project, the technical team at Jinhuan’s Shijiazhuang factory took the lead in detailed process research and successfully solved multiple engineering difficulties. Through close collaboration, the production team overcame challenges such as:

• High-precision requirements for bolt connections
• Large-scale drilling of over 800,000 bolt holes
• Complex joint structures

The team completed workshop pre-assembly and all required processing tasks with precision and efficiency. Workshop pre-assembly of the Yellow River Bridge 

Installation Excellence

At the installation site, the complexity of the bolted joint system required single-member lifting methods, with each connection carefully executed. The Bridge Engineering Department of Jinhuan Construction Group developed a scientific and efficient installation method, ensuring that the assembly progressed smoothly and safely.

A Landmark for Jinan’s Future

With the opening of the Yellow River Highway Bridge, traffic between the New District and Jinan’s main urban area will be greatly improved. The bridge helps the city transition from the “Daming Lake Era” to the “Yellow River Era,” providing strong transportation support for regional development and the transformation of growth drivers.

Looking forward, Jinhuan will continue to contribute its expertise, high-quality products, and professional services to support urban development and infrastructure construction across China and beyond.