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Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87

15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a Prerequisite for

Sustainable Development”

Challenges to design of the north bypass road of Shanghai and

innovative technology
Mingjian Yua, Jianhui Luoa, Kesi Youa, Yiqun Fana,*
a
Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd., 901 North Zhongshan Road(2nd), Shanghai, 200092,China

Abstract

With the increasing urbanization of China, more and more different types of underground roads have been completed or are
under construction across Chinese cities and their scale keeps increasing too. The North Bypass Road of Shanghai, currently
under construction, is the largest-scale underground urban road in China. Considering its location in the downtown area with a
high concentration of buildings and population and the existence of numerous construction restrictions, its design and
construction face enormous challenges. As such, a series of new and innovative technologies have been developed and applied in
the planning and design which represent the highest level in the construction of underground roads in China today. This thesis
focuses on such challenges and new technologies encountered and applied in the design of Shanghai North Bypass Road with an
aim to provide reference to the construction of other underground roads in the downtown area.
©©2016
2016Published
The Authors. Published
by Elsevier by Elsevier
Ltd. This is an openLtd.
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review
Urbanisation under
as aresponsibility
Prerequisiteoffor
theSustainable
scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a
Development.
Prerequisite for Sustainable Development
Keywords: the North Bypass Road; urban underground road; design challenges;

1. Project Overview

Shanghai's urbanization process has been developing on a fast track in recent years and its urban spatial layout is
transforming from the original "single-center layout" to a "multi-center, multi-core, one-axis and double-chain
layout", thus generating new changes in the traffic demand structure. The rapidly increasing traffic demands along

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-186-016-59200.

E-mail address: fanyiqun@smedi.com

1877-7058 © 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 15th International scientific conference “Underground Urbanisation as a
Prerequisite for Sustainable Development
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.11.738
 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87 79

the east-west axis of Shanghai can hardly be satisfied exclusively by Yan'an Road elevated bridge in the future and
the capacity of the east-east passage has to be increased urgently. In 2013, the total traffic flow reached 15.905
million vehicle kilometers/day along the fast roads. As such, Yan'an Road elevated road and the northern section of
the Inner Ring have basically been overloaded with ever-aggravating traffic congestions. An east-west passenger
transportation corridor is thus highly needed to alleviate the traffic pressure on Yan'an Road and the Inner Ring.
According to the latest detailed plan, there will be large-scale developments and constructions along the North
Bypass Road in the future, with the total capacity of constructions to expand by 40% from the present 120 million
square meters to 170 million square meters. However, the expansion potentials of the road system on the northern
bank region are limited, with severe traffic jams on the roads of surface road during the peak hours in the morning
and evening.
The North Bypass Road is located in the north of downtown Shanghai and runs across the six districts in the north
of downtown Shanghai. The project aims to provide benefits including:
(1) Enhancing the East-West traffic connection between the PudongˈPuxi and Hongqiao CBD. By-passing sets
of traffic lights, cutting travel time greatly.
(2) Reduced traffic congestion, especially relieving traffic volume of the Yan’an Elevated Road and the north
section of the Inner Ring Road, which parallel with the North Bypass Road.
(3) Reduced traffic noise levels and improved air quality by taking up to 100,000 vehicles per day from the
surface roads.
(4) Improved access to the city for public transport commuters, pedestrians, and cyclists by removing vehicles
and releasing the ground space.

Fig. 1. Location of the North Bypass Road.

The North Bypass Road is about 19.1km long, including 10.2km-long section of tunnels (7.75km-long shield
sections, 2.45km-long open-excavated sections), as shown in Figure 2 for the master layout plan. This thesis will
focus on the tunnel sections (underground road section).
80 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87

Fig. 2. Master Layout Plan of the North Bypass Road.

Five ramps are arranged for Beihong Road, Huding Road, Jiangsu Road, Hengfeng Road and Henan Road in total
and the mean ramp distance is 2.6km. It also constitutes a complete interchange with Beihong Road of the Middle
Ring and the North-south Elevated Bridge.
In design standards, the underground road section has a designed speed of 60km/h and it is specifically designed
for cars, with a vertical clearance of 3.2m and lane width of 3.0m/lane.
The shield section has a maximum horizontal curve radius of 2,000m and minimum horizontal curve radius of
500m. The open excavated section has a maximum horizontal curve radius of 1,000m, a minimum horizontal curve
radius of 300m.
In the longitudinal design, the shield section has a maximum gradient of 5% and a minimum gradient of 0.4%.
Entrance and exit ramps have a maximum longitudinal gradient of not over 6%. The controlled interval is not less
than 3m between the shield section and the planned rail traffic at their crossing, not less than 6m between the shield
section and the existing rail traffic and not less than 3m between the shield section and the bottom of pile base of
bridge and river course.
The cross section of the shield section has a layout of single tube and double layers with 6 lanes bidirectionally.

Fig. 3. Cross Section Layout of North Bypass Road.

2. Engineering and design challenges and technical innovation

Due to located in the central area of Shanghai, the construction conditions are rather strict, and the Project has
introduced many tunnel design and construction challenges, including:
(1) Major construction within the Shanghai CBD whilst limiting surface impact.
 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87 81

(2) Not only incorporation of existing expressway networks into the design including two connections into the
Middle Ring Road and the North-South Elevated Road, but also incorporation of existing local road networks by
setting underground ramps.
(3) Complex tunnel geometry driven by alignment requirements, with multiple exits and entrances, and left –side
merging, traffic safety guarantee is difficulty.
(4) Tunneling beneath and adjacent to major infrastructure including deep building basements, flood protection
wall of Suzhou river and transit tunnels.
The Tunnel alignment passes along side and beneath 140 building basements in close proximity. The minimums
horizontal distance to the deep building basement is only 1mDŽ
Design to preserve the impact on the 6 existing transits tunnels, the development of 4 future transits tunnels, and 1
bridge.
(5) Complex construction for shield tunnel, outer-diameter of the shield is 15.56m, and the minimum radius of the
shield tunnel section is only 500m, R/D ratio is the lowest among the large - diameter shield tunnels in China.
In response to the challenges encountered during project design, a series of new technologies are developed and
applied. Firstly, the construction space is rather limited and thus an innovative routing has to be designed to
reasonably avoid existing underground buildings; it is also necessary to choose a more economical and reasonable
cross section that is suitable for cars in order to reduce building costs and construction risks. Meanwhile, it is
necessary to study the penetrating technologies in a systematic way, in order to protect the safety of existing
facilities. limited by the construction conditions, small-radius and large-diameter shield construction technology
becomes an essential technology. Moreover, it is also the No. 1 priority to protect safety and ensure disaster rescue
of overlong underground passages with multi-point entrance and exits and their ventilation, smoke exhaust,
evacuation and rescue require systematic researches. This thesis will focus on some critical technical innovations
and applications.

2.1. Innovative routing plan

As there are 4 subway stations completed and under construction at part of the original planned routing, the
project progress will be disrupted if the original routing is maintained. In order to avoid the 4 subway stations, an
alternative way is presented by using the shield tunnel in the deep underground spaces with the average depth of -
40m, by way of Suzhou River and Zhongshan Park. The total length is 2.3km. Meanwhile, road entrance and exits
are arranged via working shafts for linking to surrounding roads on the ground.

2.2. Research on geometric design standards for car-only underground road

Urban underground roads have complicated construction conditions and high construction costs and any minor
increase in cross section size would generate enormous additional building costs and construction risks. Therefore,
different options of cross section layouts are compared and the standards are studied considering the major traffic of
the North Bypass Road.
A natural driving test is conducted on the tunnels of Xinjian Road and Renmin Road through theoretical
calculation, measurement, simulative driving and various other means. Lateral distance data are collected via laser
ranging device and video data analysis. It is finally concluded that an actual traveling speed of 60km/h and a lane
width of less than 3.0m can guarantee traveling safety.
In the project, two types of cross sections are compared, and Plan 1 is adopted. Therefore, a breakthrough is made
in the original road standards and a minimum lane width of 3.0m and a vertical clearance of 3.2m are adopted as the
design standard. The research on lane and vertical clearance geometric standards also provides support to the
compilation of China's first underground road design code, i.e. Code of Design for Engineering and Design of Urban
Underground Roads.
82 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87

Fig. 4. The distribution of vehicle trajectory in tunnel for lane with design standard.

(a) Plan 1 (Φ15.0m) lane width 3.0, vertical clearance 3.2m (a) Plan 1 (Φ15.8m) lane width 3.25, vertical clearance 3.5m

Fig. 5. Comparison of cross Section.

2.3. Technology for large-diameter shield to penetrate deep underground urban spaces in a long distance

A large-diameter shield, single-tube and double-layered layout is adopted to for long-distance penetration of the
saturated soft foundation underground in downtown Shanghai and avoidance of the existing transits tunnel and
building. Working shafts are constructed for connection to the ramps on the ground. It penetrates existing buildings
continuously and the flood-control walls of Suzhou River and many public pipelines for a couple of times.
For the purpose of initial shield formation, shield machine selection and protection of surrounding environment
from impacts of the project, a series of major breakthroughs have been made in tunnel design, construction
management, rescue and other sectors in Shanghai and even China. Innovations and breakthroughs have been made
in the deep penetration, small- radius curve and penetration of transit tunnels of high-diameter shields.

2.3.1. Penetration of shield section tunnels of rail traffic by high-diameter cement shields

The North Bypass Road penetrates 4 existing transit tunnels, including penetration underneath existing shield
sections at 2 places by the high-diameter shield; penetration above existing shield section by soil-pressure-balanced
 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87 83

shield in a diameter of 7.1m at 1 place, penetration underneath transit bridge section by high-diameter shield at 1
place and penetration underneath 2 transit tunnels under construction.

Fig.6. Penetration underneath existing transit tunnels line 7 and line 11.

Fig. 7. Penetration underneath existing transit bridge.

2.3.2 Penetration of high-density downtown buildings by high-diameter shields

The North Bypass Road penetrates the high-density downtown buildings, including 140+ buildings at 90+ places
and including tier buildings, high-rise buildings and basements, from underneath or sideways, with a minimum
horizontal distance of 1m from the building base.

Fig. 8. Penetration of high-density downtown buildings.

84 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87

Fig. 9. Analysis of General Load Conditions of Buildings when Penetration.

2.3.3. Shield tunnel construction with small-radius curve

The shield of main line of the North Bypass Road has an outer diameter of 15.56m, a total shield length of 6.4km
and a minimum curve radius of 500m. The sections with a radius of less than 600m account for 52% of the total
shield length. The ratio of shield diameter and curve radius of Beiheng Passage (R/D) is the smallest among all
completed high-diameter tunnels in China.

2.3.4. Penetration of Suzhou River in open excavation

The penetration of open-excavated section of the North Bypass Road through Suzhou River is restricted by the
flood control requirements of Suzhou River, the tunnels of adjacent Line No. 13 and the adjacent Changshou Road
bridge and therefore it has to be implemented in sections in order to control the flood control width of the river
course of Suzhou River, reduce the impacts of base pit excavation on Line No. 13 and ensure safety.

2.3.5. Long-distance penetration of the transit tunnel of Line 13 with open excavation construction

The main line of the North Bypass Road penetrates the sections of Line 13 of existing transit tunnel from above
via open excavation to the east of Suzhou River at Tianmu Road. The base pit and the tunnel plane of Line No. 13
constitute an angle of 18 degrees. The buried section's base pit has a maximum excavation depth of 12.77m and is
6.122m away from top of the tunnel of Line 13, with a maximum unloading ratio of 0.3 and a scope of impact of
165m.
The base pit of the North Bypass Road is longitudinally divided into 11 smaller sections and the construction is
carried out among them in a skipping way. Moreover, uplift pile, foundation reinforcement and other means are
adopted to reduce the base pit excavation's impact on Line 13 and ensure the safety of Line 13.
 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87 85

The North Bypass

Road

Line 13

Fig. 10. Long-distance penetration of the transit tunnel of Line 13.

2.3.6. Penetration technology of the entrance and exists ramp at Jiangsu Road

The main line penetrates Subway Line No. 1 from underneath at Jiangsu Road. The ramp takes the form of a
small-size shield which penetrates Jiangsu Road between Line 11 and the convergent sewage pipe to avoid impacts
on the operation of the crossing.

2.4. Safety assurance and disaster rescue technology for multi- entrance and exists and long underground road

Underground road spaces are enclosed with a monotonous environment, high noises and poor visual conditions.
Insufficient range of visibility at the entrance/exit increases the probability of accident, easily causes fires and other
secondary accidents and makes the evacuation and rescue more difficult. Therefore, it is particularly important to
ensure safety and rapidly evacuate people in case of any fire or other emergencies. Considering the features of the
North Bypass Road, innovative researches are carried out on the safety assurance and rescue in case of fire and other
emergencies during the design.

2.4.1. Analysis of traffic safety based on driving simulation

Establish an initial 3D model according to the design data of the underground roads of the North Bypass Road.
Then the 3D model is decorated on such basis to establish a vivid simulative scene. Design the corresponding test
plan, assess the design achievements and diagnose the potential problems through simulation. There are quantitative
assessment and qualitative assessment. Qualitative analysis primarily involves the driver's direct feelings of the
driving. Quantitative analysis directly or indirectly assesses the safety through the indexes output by the simulator or
other calculation model. The driving simulation further allows analysis of the driver's direct driving feelings. The
assessment shows that the main line of the North Bypass Road has satisfactory profile indexes, satisfactory
continuation of traveling speed, continuation of visual inductions and limited safety hazards.
86 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87

Fig. 11. Driving Simulation-based traffic safety analyses.

2.4.2. Ventilation, smoke exhaust and safety evacuation and rescue for multi-entrance and exit urban underground
road

The North Bypass Road is the longest double-layered tunnel constructed in the shield method in China and its
multi-entrance and exit renders it different configuration features compared with the conventional point-to-point
tunnel and thus brings brand-new challenges in ventilation, smoke exhaust and safety evacuation and rescue.
As multiple ramps and multi- entrance and exits are designed, the project has a multitude of nodes and branches
and complicated air flow organizations and the ventilation environment of the underground passage is highly
affected. It needs to be determined if the reciprocal longitudinal ventilation and the smoke exhaust system in a non-
blocking condition are still effective or to what extent it is affected, particularly if the external atmospheric
environment at the ramp will generate adverse impacts on the smoke and air flows in case of fire. Dual-layered
tunnels have highly-limited spaces in section and the flue arrangement is restricted as a result. How to arrange the
flue, ensure the smoke exhaust efficiency of flue and guarantee safe evacuation is also a challenge to the design.
The innovative general design concept of sectioned disaster prevention is also proposed, i.e. the underground road
is divided into several sections to reduce the safety hazards of the overlong tunnel as a single system. When any one
section has to be closed down for fire, accident or maintenance, other sections can operate properly. Organization
and facility distribution for "sectioned" evacuation and rescue system.
Research on the impacts of its configuration on ventilation and smoke exhaust. The complicated network
ventilation calculation and smoke exhaust control method are initially proposed; simulation and experimental
research are conducted to study the special form of upper and lower flues of the dual-layered tunnels. Finally, the
flue layout and control modes applicable for cross sections with considerable space restrictions are proposed
innovatively.
Researches and support designs allow the underground roads to have the smoke exhaust ability in 8MW fire
conditions. The safety evacuation is controlled within 15 minutes.

2.5. Ventilation tower and management building to be constructed together

As the North Bypass Road penetrates the core area of the city and the land and environmental conditions are
highly limited, it is very difficult to determine the site of management building and ventilation tower. As such, the
ventilation tower and the management building are arranged in line with the plot development. It not only addresses
the problem of tunnel ventilation, but also avoids impacts of high ventilation tower on urban landscapes.

3. Conclusions

The North Bypass Road is the largest-scale urban underground road in China. Due to restrictions of construction
conditions, it faces enormous challenges in planning, design and construction and represents the highest technology
level in the construction of underground roads in China. This thesis focuses on such challenges and new
 Mingjian Yu et al. / Procedia Engineering 165 (2016) 78 – 87 87

technologies encountered and applied in the design of Shanghai North Bypass Road with an aim to provide reference
to the construction of other underground roads in the downtown area.

References

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Institute, Shanghai, 2013/
[4] S. Liu, J.H. Wang, S.E. Fang, Impacts of Underground Road Cross Section on Driving Conducts, Journal of Tongji University. 41(8) (2013)
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