Crossing the no-man's land again! Three highways across the "Sea of ​​Death". How did the "infrastructure maniac" build them?

On June 30, the Xinjiang Yuli to Qiemo highway - Yuqie Highway was officially opened to traffic.

The Yuli to Qiemo Desert Highway photographed on June 26, with work vehicles driving on the road (drone photo).

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang

This desert highway, which started construction in October 2017, is 334 kilometers long, with 307 kilometers of desert section. It passes through more than 30 tall sand hills in the area. It is the third highway to cross the "Sea of ​​Death" after the Luntai-Minfeng and Aksu-Aral-Hotan desert highways.

So far, my country has built more than 1,200 kilometers of desert roads in the Taklimakan Desert, known as the "Sea of ​​Death."

Three desert highways cross the world's second largest mobile desert. How to build roads in the "Sea of ​​Death"?

What difficulties and challenges have the builders overcome in the past five years?

Let’s take a look:

The first challenge: sand hills and basins

"More than 40 bulldozers pushed for 150 days"

The biggest challenge in building a road in the desert is sand.

The Yuqie Highway connects Yuli County and Qiemo County. It is located in the Tarim Basin between the southern slope of the Tianshan Mountains and the northern foothills of the Altun Mountains, and passes through the heart of the Taklimakan Desert.

The project manager said that he had never seen such a large sandbag before. "Our construction workers lived and ate on site, and drove more than 40 high-powered crawler bulldozers for 150 days to completely 'flatten' the mountain. The excavation volume of this sand mountain alone was as high as 1.5 million cubic meters, accounting for one eighth of the total excavation volume of the entire project."

The Yuli to Qiemo Desert Highway taken on June 26 (drone photo).

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang

It can definitely be called the desert road in the world with the most widespread distribution of moving sand dunes, the worst construction conditions and the greatest construction difficulty.

The second challenge: extreme heat and little rain

"The surface temperature is close to 70 degrees Celsius, which is enough to fry an egg."

"Taklimakan" means "a place you can get in but can't get out". One third of the year in this desert is sandstorm-prone. With long-term exposure to the scorching sun, the surface temperature can even reach 70 degrees Celsius. The average annual precipitation does not exceed 100 mm, while the average evaporation is as high as 2,500-3,400 mm. The high temperature means that construction in the desert can only be done from dawn to dusk.

The staff said: "The temperature in the Taklimakan Desert is very high in summer, over 40 degrees, and the surface temperature is close to 70 degrees Celsius. During the hottest time of the year, the boiling quicksand can fry eggs. To prevent heat stroke, on-site workers drink an average of 8-10 liters of water per person per day. But getting water is also very difficult, mainly because it is transported from outside the desert to inside. The nearest water point to the construction site is more than 250 kilometers away for a round trip."

More than 400 workers, more than 700 days

Shovel by shovel, step by step, the "Chinese Rubik's Cube" is created

To build a road in the world's second largest mobile desert, hard work alone is not enough. The key is to solve the problem of sand prevention and fixation.

So, how to protect the highway from being buried by yellow sand? The builders used the "Chinese Rubik's Cube", the "grass grid" technology that embodies Chinese wisdom.

Workers lay grass grids on both sides of the Yuli-Qiemo Desert Highway to prevent wind and sand from being invaded by quicksand (photo taken on July 10, 2018).

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Huhu

According to reports, the "grass grid" is a grid-shaped windbreak wall made of reed material on the moving sand dunes. By making the ground rougher, it reduces wind force and blocks the quicksand.

The project leader said that mechanization is useless in construction on the undulating sand. First, each bundle of 70 kilograms of reeds must be carried into the desert manually, and then the construction grid lines must be drawn on the sand dunes after they are transported to the designated location;

Place the trimmed reeds horizontally on the grid lines, and use a shovel to embed the reeds into the sand from the middle, so that the two ends of the grass are raised and exposed to the ground about 20-25 cm above the ground.

Then use sand to stabilize the foundation, and finally form a square with a length and width of 1 meter.

"The grass grid covering more than 58 million square meters on the Weiqie Highway was built by more than 400 workers who spent more than 700 days planting the grid one shovel at a time and trampling it one foot at a time."

One road brings prosperity to the region

Why build this road? The "Sea of ​​Death" contains infinite vitality

Qiemo County, located in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, has long had inconvenient transportation to the outside world. As the third desert highway in Xinjiang, the opening of the Yuqie Highway will greatly facilitate the travel of people in Yuli and Qiemo counties and improve the difficulty in selling local agricultural products.

The Yuli-Qiemo Desert Highway passes through the Tarim River and Populus euphratica forest (taken on June 22, drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang

In addition, the opening of this desert highway has undoubtedly provided a new option for self-driving tours in the desert. The Weiqie Desert Highway has 307 kilometers of deep desert hinterland, along which you can enjoy the unique desert landscapes such as huge sand walls, sand basins, and long sand dunes. There are also 27 kilometers of desert highways passing through poplar forests, wetlands and vegetation-covered areas.

The route passes through the oil-rich geological zone of the Tarim Basin, which will provide strong support for future exploration, development, and transportation of oil and natural gas, further promote economic and social development in southern Xinjiang, and is of great significance to promoting the development of advantageous resources and economic and social development along the route.

Harsh conditions could not frustrate the determined Chinese infrastructure workers, and the century-old dream of building a highway connecting Xinjiang has finally come true!

Salute to the highway builders who stick to the desert!

Comprehensive sources: CCTV News, Xinhuanet, etc.