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Spotting geological hazard risks at a glance: Hubei “sees through” the mountains.
The 13-kilometer‑long Badong Tunnel has long been plagued by frequent geological hazards, including landslides, karst features, collapses, and unstable rock masses. In the past, construction teams were essentially “opening blind boxes,” forced to react passively, with design changes becoming an almost daily occurrence. Today, thanks to the joint efforts of the Provincial Department of Transport and a team of experts from Hubei Communications Investment Group, the project has adopted a proactive prevention and control approach—“precise preliminary exploration, early warning, and targeted mitigation”—and deployed an integrated, intelligent surveying and early‑warning system spanning air, ground, and underground. This has given rise to a comprehensive “super‑brain” that covers the entire chain of geological investigation and risk forecasting, enabling scientifically sound, precision‑driven route planning.
The 13-kilometer‑long Badong Tunnel has long been plagued by frequent geological hazards, including landslides, karst features, collapses, and unstable rock masses. In the past, construction teams were essentially “opening blind boxes,” forced to react passively, with design changes becoming an almost daily occurrence. Today, thanks to the concerted efforts of expert groups from the Provincial Department of Transport and Hubei Communications Investment Group, the project has adopted a proactive prevention and control approach—“precise preliminary exploration, early warning, and targeted mitigation”—and deployed an integrated, intelligent surveying and early‑warning system spanning air, ground, and underground. This has given rise to a comprehensive “superbrain” that covers the entire chain of geological investigation and risk forecasting, enabling scientifically sound, precision‑driven route planning.
Amid towering, precipitous mountains, the Hushan–Zhangjiajie Expressway—connecting the Hushan and Huyu sections—winds its way through the region. Though only 67 kilometers in length, the project boasts an astonishing bridge‑tunnel ratio of 83%, traversing 22 fault zones and passing beneath more than a dozen underground rivers. Because it cuts through the highly unstable “Badong Formation” strata, the project has been dubbed the “ceiling” of transportation engineering in Hubei, both in terms of design complexity and construction challenges, posing a formidable global challenge.
How can this challenge be overcome? The key lies in scientifically selecting the optimal route—yet this requires the ability to “see through” the mountains. To this end, under the guidance of the Provincial Department of Transport, Hubei has established an expert team. For the first time in transportation infrastructure projects, the team has brought in specialized geological‑hazard‑prevention consulting institutions, such as the Karst Research Institute of the China Geological Survey and the Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute, assembling a distinguished roster that includes two academicians and more than ten doctoral experts.
“Using the wide‑area electromagnetic method is like giving the project an early ‘CT scan,’ allowing us to clearly visualize underground karst caves up to one kilometer deep. This geophysical surveying technique has been applied for the first time in a transportation project in Hubei,” said Engineer Xie, pointing to a subsurface geophysical map on the screen, which laid bare the tunnel’s geological structure in Badong. He added that by adopting innovative geological investigation methods, it’s possible to identify and mitigate major risks while minimizing construction impacts, thereby avoiding serious hazards caused by blind excavation or costly post‑construction rework.
Thanks to technological empowerment, a host of engineering challenges have been readily overcome. With this “smart eye”—a system that integrates three-dimensional exploration and real-time early warning—construction teams now have a far more comprehensive understanding of the mountain’s internal structure and dynamic risks. They have successfully avoided numerous major debris‑flow hazards and developed tailored contingency plans for obstacles such as sinkholes and underground rivers, bolstering their confidence in launching the Badong Tunnel on schedule within the year.
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