A Day in the Life of a Construction Site: A Chronicle of the Binhe Expressway Electromechanical and Traffic Safety Project

The Binchuan-Heqing Expressway (Binhe Expressway for short) in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, is one of Yunnan Province's key "Four Hundreds" construction projects and a key project for the "interconnection" of county-level expressways in Yunnan Province. Upon completion, the expressway will open up an economic and cultural development channel between Binchuan, the "fruit hometown," and Heqing, the "silver capital water town," further improving Yunnan Province's expressway network, optimizing the regional road network structure, and playing a significant role in promoting regional economic and social development.

The Binhe Expressway Electromechanical and Traffic Safety Project, Phase 1, constructed by the company's metal structure processing center, has a contract value of 69.3523 million yuan. During construction, supplementary water resource utilization projects, runoff accident collection projects for the Xincheng super-large bridge, and full-line joint commissioning and testing projects were added, with a contract value of 10.7761 million yuan. This involved the laying and installation of over 30,000 meters of outdoor water pipes, the construction of two 780m ³ runoff pools, 3000 meters of glass-sandwiched pipes, and joint commissioning and testing of five toll stations and nine tunnels along the entire line.

Initial Heart, Concentrated Firepower, Full Speed Ahead

"Prioritize Early Completion." After the Binhe Expressway Electromechanical and Traffic Safety Project team from the Metal Structure Processing Center entered the site in October 2022, they adopted a fighting posture of "the battle begins at the start, the sprint begins at the outset, and acceleration begins at the starting line." Targeting the completion deadline of December 30, 2022, for the Binchuan section, they concentrated their firepower and made every effort to advance the project.

"Tighten the Grip." As 2024 approached and the full-line opening date drew near, the project site was bustling with activity. The roar of machinery served as a call to action and a symphony of dreams, inspiring everyone to move forward. After more than 500 days and nights of hard work, the project team lived up to expectations, successfully completing the June 28 target task and ensuring the smooth opening of the Binhe Expressway mainline, delivering a satisfactory result to the company and the client!

Tightening the Safety Strings, Building a Solid Production Safety Net

The project department is responsible for a long engineering front (basically covering the entire line), with numerous and widespread points. The tunnel work interface was provided relatively late. To ensure the high-quality completion of the project, the project department earnestly implemented the safety production responsibility system, continuously strengthened refined management, clarified project supervision and management responsibilities, dynamically monitored the schedule, and strictly controlled the links.

To address potential hazards such as vehicle damage, machinery damage, and falls from heights, the project department established a complete safety management organizational structure to ensure site safety. A safety production team was formed, headed by the project manager and deputy project manager, with members including heads of various sub-items, construction workers, and safety officers, fully responsible for the safety management of the construction site. During the project construction, the safety production team implemented regular and irregular safety inspections, conducting comprehensive checks of the construction site, focusing on high-altitude operations, safety maintenance, temporary electricity, lifting and hoisting, and mechanical equipment, continuously deepening the safety management of the construction site, and effectively ensuring safety production, creating a good and stable safety production environment.

Party Building's "Red Heart" Leads Engineering's "Ingenious Heart"

Since the start of the project, the Binhe Expressway Electromechanical and Traffic Safety Project Department has adhered to party building as its guide, continuously promoting the deep integration of party building work and central work, and ensuring high-quality project development. The project department, closely following task goals and node plans, carefully organized and coordinated arrangements, continuously empowering the expressway project construction, using stronger creativity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness to promote safety production work, and continuously accelerating the construction progress of traffic safety, electromechanical, and fire protection systems.

The Metal Structure Processing Center Party Branch established a "Party Member Vanguard Team" and a "Youth Assault Team" in the project department, providing strong support for the final sprint of the project. At that time, the project team was carrying out the construction of a double-sided tunnel cover plate. The site lacked any auxiliary tools, and faced an imminent deadline, tight schedule, and a small number of operators, which greatly hindered the project's progress. When everyone was at a loss, members of the "Party Member Vanguard Team" stepped forward, leading other personnel to lift the nearly 30-jin cover plates, shuttling back and forth in the tunnel. Soon, everyone was sweating profusely, and their hands trembled uncontrollably after putting down the cover plates. Despite this, everyone gritted their teeth and persevered. Finally, under the leadership of the "Party Member Vanguard Team," the construction task was completed in just one day, ensuring the overall progress of the project.

Dare to Tackle Tough Problems, Courageously Solve Difficult Issues

The word is "Do." With the June 28 opening date approaching, the schedule was tight, the tasks were heavy, and the hot summer weather presented significant challenges. However, instead of retreating, all personnel in the project department worked overtime.

In the final construction phase, the project suddenly faced changes in corrugated guardrails and untimely material supply. The project department urgently held an emergency meeting, requiring project management personnel to coordinate in all aspects. Finally, through everyone's concerted efforts, the difficult problems were solved in a short time. In addition to completing the predetermined tasks, the project department also cooperated with the general contractor, the owner, and third parties to complete pre-opening safety inspections, handover inspections, hidden danger inspections and rectification, and safety maintenance.

According to statistics, the monthly call time for each management personnel on the project exceeded 2000 minutes, as they had to call and communicate with different people every day to coordinate and solve various problems encountered in the project's progress. "Sometimes, our phone cards were used up, and after they were shut down, we found that there were inexplicably hundreds of yuan in phone charges. It turned out that our colleagues helped pay the charges when they couldn't contact us. After the shutdown, the local police station even called one by one to check whether there was any telecom fraud." recalled the project management personnel.

The project team's hard work during the project construction won high recognition from the owner and general contractor. The project area manager, with his outstanding performance, won the title of "Excellent Individual" in the 2023 Yunnan Provincial County Expressway "Full Connectivity" and "Interconnection" Engineering Labor and Skills Competition; two project management personnel won the title of "Advanced Worker" in 2023; and the project manager, with his outstanding leadership and professional skills, received numerous honorary certificates, setting an example for team members. These achievements are the crystallization of the project team's unity, cooperation, and joint efforts.

The Binhe Expressway Electromechanical and Traffic Safety Project Department's cadres and staff truly upheld their responsibilities as "JianTou people," working diligently every minute and every second. Next, the Metal Structure Processing Center project department will continue to create a strong atmosphere of focusing on and grasping major projects, using practical actions to implement the concept of "promoting the market through the site," continuously overcoming difficulties in project construction, and striving towards the next "mountain and sea" with the determination to "not return until Loulan is broken," laying a solid foundation for fully promoting the company's high-quality development.