...railway construction over the last half-century, dont really need outside help. But I think we can help with program management, with quality control and assurance and scheduling."
In many ways, Yu is the perfect person to introduce western-style project control methods to a high-profile Chinese transportation project. Born in Guiyang, he received an engineering degree from Chongqing University before migrating to the U.K. in 1986 to earn advanced degrees from the universities of Leeds and Manchester. With a Ph.D. in hand he taught civil engineering and worked for British Rail Research during the 1990s. He joined Halcrow in 2000 and soon began work with its China group.
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| Pushing Through . Elevated highway will replace local roads and speed traffic and goods from Sichuan and Chongqing to coastal industrial cities. |
"There were so many exciting projects getting under way in China that my wife and I decided that we wanted to be part of it, do what we can to help," he says. His first assignment was structural engineering work on another segment of the national trunk system, a World Bank-financed job in the arid in-terior of northwest China. Yu knew immediately that returning to China was a wise decision. Within five months he was promoted to project director.
After that job wrapped, Yus next assignment, in 2003, was the Chongzun Expressway. The prodigal son had truly returned. Occupying the second position to GEDCs Xiao was a smooth fit. Yu respectfully defers to the senior engineer, in true Chinese fashion, and the older man seems genuinely interested in Yus ideas of management.
Yu instituted some management and quality-control systems common to western projects but not fully integrated into Chinese projects. He increased retainage, from 12 months to five years, and set up procedures for change orders and claims. So far, two claims have been honored. Perhaps most critical, he installed a number of resident engineers charged with enforcing quality and backed their authority when some objected.
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| YU |
When Yu joined the team, the project was well under way. The feasibility study had been approved in the fall of 2000 and design and civil contracts were awarded by the spring of 2001. Construction began the following year. GEDC divided the project into 17 contract segments, comprising northern and southern sections. Local Chinese contractors won most of the jobs, although Beijing-based China Road and Bridge Corp. and local Guizhou Provincial Bridge Engineering Corp. and Guizhou Road and Bridge Engineering Corp. took multiple contracts. Halcrow handled schedule coordination, oversight and quality control.
Contracts began ramping up in 2003 with some 50,000 workers on the job. Many were involved on tunnel work, which had 55 concurrent drives under way. Project officials say difficult, varied geology precluded consideration of tunnel boring machines. All of the work is done by drill-and-blast methods.
The longest drive, the twin 4,107-m-long Liangfenya tunnels, will be one of the longest highway tunnels in China. Workers progressed an average of 200 m per month. Officials say difficulties in drilling rock bolts by hand and placing large volumes of shotcrete led to a greater use of steel arch ribs for support. Because of the abundance of methane, design of ventilation systems was critical. Cross tunnels provide emergency exits. Officials report no fatalities or lost time accidents to date in the tunneling program.
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| Transition. Mountainous terrain in some places forces the route to switch quickly from tunnel to bridge. |
Bridges are of precast concrete segments placed on cast-in-place piers, some reaching as high as 100 m above valley floors or placed on slopes pitched as steeply as 70°. In several spots along the route, a bridge connects directly with a tunnel. Contractors are not using bamboo scaffolds but scaffold collapses and falls have killed eight workers, Yu says.
Depending on the segment, contractors place precast deck sections with tower cranes or launching girders. The project remains on schedule. The southern portion opened in July, a year ahead of schedule. The northern section is to be finished by January.
The project is a cornerstone of Halcrows China strategy. Bill Austin, managing director of Asia operations, says Halcrow is trying to make up for lost opportunities: "We were late going into Shenzhen in the 1980s. We were late going into Shanghai in the 1990s. Were not going to be late going into the West."
He is convinced of Chinas efforts to develop its interior. Eastern Chinas economic development now attracts private lenders but the interior will need Beijings and multinational money. The per capita income in Shanghai is six times that of Chengdu, Austin points out. "With the East in a self-financing mode, we think the infrastructure dollars will flow to the West," he says.
(Photos by Harold Dudek for ENR)
