Chongqing- Smart elements and a comprehensive pipe gallery highlight the features of Science Avenue, which has taken shape as of Monday after one year of construction.

Smart transportation and management

A 300-meter model section of the three-kilometer demonstration section has been flanked by green lawns, and the first phase of Science Avenue is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

As a major transportation project in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality, the 66-kilometer avenue connects the Jialing River in the south and the Yangtze River in the north. It is designed to pass the city downtown areas of Jiulongpo District, Chongqing High-Tech Zone, Shapingba District, Beibei District.

"The Science Avenue is well defined by traffic accessibility, image display, green sharing, and smart technology," said Gong Xia, an engineer of T.Y.Lin International China and chief designer of Science Avenue.

Fast lanes and slow networks make an avenue-city coexistence. Gong added, "On the one hand, fast lanes to achieve traffic accessibility; on the other hand, sidewalks and a slow-moving system mainly serve the cities along the route." Moreover, a large number of scientific research enterprises will be dotted along the avenue according to a relevant plan.

The traffic lights on frontage roads of Science Avenue are smartly controlled, with the front-end sensing device collecting data and feeding them back to the signal lights. The signal light lengths may vary according to the traffic flow.

The first application of GIL technology in western China

Apart from the smart road and control system, the first application of the Gas Insulated Metal Enclosed Transmission Line (GIL) in western China lies in the comprehensive underground pipe gallery. The net height of the pipe gallery is up to 3.3 meters, enabling a large truck to go through.

According to a competent official from the construction bureau of the Chongqing High-Tech Zone, the 220kV Chenbao Line along Science Avenue adopts GIL technology to lay in the pipe gallery.

GIL has advantages such as large transmission capacity, low loss, small floor area, flexible layout, high reliability, maintenance-free and long life cycle. As a further step in intensifying energy transmission and after application, there will be fewer and fewer overhead high-voltage cables in cities. The stability of the power supply and peak carrying capacity will be greatly improved.