After 15 months of hard work, the first utility tunnel project cutting through mountain bodies, also considered as the “life line” of Beijing Winter Olympic Games, has been put into service in Jan. 7^th, 2019. This is the only utility tunnel project specifically designed for the Games. 

The Yanqing competition court for Beijing Winter Olympic Games is located in the south side of Xiaohaituo Mountain. Two venues including the National Skiing Center and the National Sleigh and Sled Center, and two concourses including the Winter Olympic Village and Media Center will be built here. The utility tunnel as the comprehensive supportive project will provide channels for the water and livelihood supply used in snow making, residential water, recycled water, electrical power, communication and cable TV, etc.

In order to minimize the impact over environment, the utility tunnel project is constructed by underground tunnels. The tunnel starts from the Foyukou Reservior at the South, and extends to the Yanqing area at the North, with the whole length to be 7.9 km. The tunnel will be the infrastructure for the sustained use of the Winter Olympic Games venues, which after the Games will be the sport center for the residence. 

As introduced, the utility tunnel is the first one ever cut through mountains in China. The altitude at the inlet of the tunnel is 550 meter and outlet is 1100 meters, resulting in a 550 meter difference in elevation. With the maximum slope as high as 15% and the extremely complicated geography condition the construction is extremely difficult and highly demanding for building technology. 

The project started construction in September 2017. It is expected to finish the water and electrical supply facilities in September 2019 before the venues being completed.