New Taipei City Circular Line hoisting operation survives in a narrow gap

(Taiwan Business News) The first phase of the New Taipei City Circular Line passes between Xiulang Bridge Station and Zhonghe Jingan Station, with about 2.21 km running alongside Taiwan Route 64 and Jingping Road. To maintain the traffic function of Taiwan Route 64 and Jingping Road and to avoid affecting the structural safety of the elevated bridge, the Circular Line elevated bridge piers can only be set within the 3 m gap between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Taiwan Route 64. It is even more necessary to build elevated bridges more than 20 m above ground above Taiwan Route 64 and two elevated stations, Jingping Station and Jingan Station. The elevated construction on this section is a textbook case of surviving in a narrow gap!

Zhao Shaolian, Director-General of the New Taipei City Transportation Department, said that the first phase of the Circular Line, located at the very core of the Three Rings and Three Lines, starts from Dapinglin Station in Xindian, passes through densely populated and built-up areas such as Xindian, Zhonghe, Banqiao and Xinzhuang, and ends at New Taipei Industrial Park in Xinzhuang District. It has a total length of 15.4 km and a total of 14 stations and one depot.

Jingping Road in Zhonghe District is 24 m wide, and the elevated Taiwan Route 64 already passes above it, leaving only about 4 m of width on one side of the projected area. Under multiple constraints, including the limited remaining space on Jingping Road and the busy traffic, construction has tried to avoid on-site scaffolding, formwork and pouring. Instead, bridge structures are "precast" or "prefabricated" elsewhere and then transported to the construction site for hoisting and assembly using the 3 m gap between bridge decks. This saves the on-site curing wait time after pouring, shortens the time the road is occupied by construction and effectively reduces traffic impact. "This construction method is like putting together Lego bricks, piecing them together one by one," the on-site construction workers explained. Because of its greater width, the column head cap beam at the top of the pier cannot be hoisted through the 3 m gap. It must be hoisted at night when traffic on Taiwan Route 64 is lighter, by closing some lanes in the Xindian-to-Banqiao direction.