Widespread transport network links airport
New roads, express rail connects Beijing to its neighbors and the rest of the world
With Beijing's new world-class airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport, set to open by the end of September, a vast array of infrastructure is being completed to serve and support the travel hub.
The Daxing Airport Highway, Tuanhe Road and a complex web of underground pipes and tunnels used for broadband, electricity, information and more, have been connected and integrated with Daxing Airport Express Rail and Beijing-Xiongan High-speed Railway.
The immense construction project, which got underway in 2016 and cost 17.1 billion yuan ($2.48 billion), represented engineering challenges on a scale unseen before.
Apart from Tuanhe Road, the three other transport routes to the airport are elevated and needed to be constructed at the same time in order to minimize impact on existing infrastructure.
At one point, three transport routes run as flyovers side by side reaching as high as 30 meters above ground, the first time such a feat has been achieved in China, according to Zhang Yanduo, assistant to the general manager of Beijing Infrastructure Investment Transportation Co, in charge of the project.
"With the roads and rail up in the air we have saved land usage by more than 40 hectares," he said.
Another engineering feat required that the Daxing Airport Highway, an express rail line and Tuanhe Road be built above and over Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway while it was in operation, setting a new standard for precision construction, Zhang said.
