[4K HDR]The world's longest highway tunnel Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, Urumqi to Korla 天山胜利隧道 乌鲁木齐-库尔勒

世界最长高速公路隧道——天山胜利隧道及其所在的G0711新疆乌鲁木齐至尉犁高速公路（简称“乌尉高速”）已于12月26日（今天）正午11:30通车。通车后，乌鲁木齐市至库尔勒市驾车时长由此前的7小时缩短至3.5小时。 #天山胜利隧道 #TianshanShengliTunnel #库尔勒 #Korla #乌鲁木齐 #Urumqi Construction Background of the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, as the core control project of the G0711 Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, was born out of the urgent need to break the transportation bottleneck between northern and southern Xinjiang imposed by the Tianshan Mountains. Historically, traveling between Urumqi and Korla relied on winding mountain roads such as National Highway 216, which took about 3 hours to cross the mountains and was often closed in winter due to heavy snowstorms, with the actual travel distance stretching to nearly 470 kilometers despite a straight-line distance of just over 250 kilometers. This geographical barrier severely hindered regional economic integration and people-to-people exchanges. In 2013, the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway was included in the National Highway Network Plan (2013-2030), marking the official launch of the blueprint to build a direct passage through the Tianshan Mountains. As a key part of China's "Transportation Powerhouse" pilot initiative and a major national infrastructure project, the expressway has a total investment of 46.7 billion yuan, with the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel being its most technically challenging section. The tunnel, stretching 22.13 kilometers, was designed to address the extreme inefficiency of traditional mountain-crossing routes, aiming to reduce the travel time through the Tianshan Mountains to approximately 20 minutes and shorten the mileage between Urumqi and Korla by about 170 kilometers. The construction was also driven by the need to overcome unprecedented geological and environmental challenges. The tunnel passes through 11 active fault zones, with a maximum overburden depth of 1,762 meters and complex conditions including rock bursts, water inrushes, and soft rock deformation. To tackle these issues and shorten the originally predicted 10-year construction period, the innovative "three-tunnel + multiple vertical shafts" layout was adopted, with domestically developed TBMs ("Tianshan" and "Shengli") excavating the central service tunnel first to create multiple auxiliary working faces. The project officially started in March 2020 and was holed through in December 2024, opening to traffic in December 2025, which has since played a pivotal role in promoting the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt core area and integrating regional resources.