Recently, in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, a bridge that was opened to traffic only 17 months ago has been found to have cracks in various places, raising concerns about the quality of the construction.
According to a video posted by a netizen on February 19th, the Nine-hole Bridge on Xiangjiang West Road in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, which opened to traffic 17 months ago, has cracks appearing in various locations. The video shows multiple cracks on the bridge structure, riverside guardrails, and embankments, with bricks falling off. The person filming the video lightly flicks the cracked area under the bridge with their hand, causing concrete to fall off.
The official website of Yongzhou City Government indicates that the Nine-hole Bridge on Xiangjiang West Road was officially opened to traffic on September 28, 2023.
According to Modern Express, the total construction cost of the Xiangjiang West Road area projects in Yongzhou, including the Nine-hole Bridge, is estimated to be around 906 million yuan, including unforeseen expenses.
In response to the public outcry, the Yongzhou City Transportation Bureau stated that the bridge has not been handed over to the city’s transportation bureau yet, and multiple departments within the city are currently involved in handling the situation.
On February 20th of this year, the Yongzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone Development Construction Bureau reported that, upon initial inspection, the uneven settlement between the backfilled soil subgrade and the uniform settlement of the bridge body caused cracks to appear on both sides of the joints, with some ceramic tiles falling off. The next step will be to urge the responsible units of the project to rectify the situation and commission a professional third-party quality and safety inspection agency to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the bridge quality.
The incident has sparked discussions among netizens, with comments such as “Substandard construction projects are the norm in China,” “Corruption’s result! Multiple departments getting involved is just a show to appease the public,” “How was it passed in the first place?” “Uncover the protective umbrella and crack down hard on these unethical practices of cutting corners,” “A bridge that creates several millionaires, a great way to get rich.”
“This is the best answer to the fact that investment alone cannot drive consumption nowadays. The money invested in building this bridge did not ultimately reach the hands of construction workers or ordinary material vendors,” “Low-quality construction projects are not the scariest part. What’s truly frightening is the cover-ups and tolerances behind them, at least one generation cannot see hope,” “Root out the worms in the project.”