Erlangshan Tunnel

The 13,459-meter-long New Erlangshan Tunnel (on the Ya'an-Kangding Expressway) traverses Erlang Mountain. It is the fourth-longest highway tunnel under construction and currently open to traffic in my country, and the longest highway tunnel in a high-altitude area. Both lines were completed on September 26, 2017. Connecting Tianquan County, Ya'an City, and Luding County, Ganzi Prefecture, it is the first long highway tunnel from the Chengdu Plain into the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is known as the "First Tunnel of Sichuan-Tibet." The New Erlangshan Tunnel traverses multiple regional fault zones, exposing it to geological hazards such as fault fracture zones, rock bursts, gas intrusion, large deformations, and high-pressure mud and water inrush.

The speed limit on the new Erlangshan twin-hole, two-lane tunnel, which is rated for a four-lane highway, is 80 km/h, allowing drivers to maintain highway speeds even inside the tunnel! The entrance is 1,571.35 meters above sea level. (Zan Xiaofeng) (Zan Xiaofeng)

Advanced tunnel interconnectors (the gray diagonal lines between the two tunnels) feature two multifunctional traffic transfer zones, allowing vehicles to turn around between tunnels (the two parallel blue lines). These zones enhance emergency rescue and tunnel maintenance capabilities. An underground fan room optimizes tunnel air quality.

The new Erlangshan Tunnel (on the Ya'an-Kangding Expressway) is 13,459 meters long and passes through Erlangshan Mountain. It is the longest highway tunnel in my country's high-altitude areas.

The 13.4-kilometer-long Erlangshan Tunnel on the Ya'an-Kangding Expressway is known as the No. 1 tunnel in Sichuan-Tibet. The Erlangshan chasm that used to take a whole day to cross now only takes 10 minutes.

There are not many 12-kilometer-long tunnels on Earth, so it is a place worth visiting.

The famous Erlangshan Tunnel is characterized by the national flag light strip in the middle, which reminds you of your motherland no matter where you are.

Convenient transportation shortens the journey. Thanks to the pioneers.

The Erlangshan Tunnel has long been renowned, often described as offering two worlds within a single tunnel. Known as the "First Tunnel of Sichuan and Tibet," it is the longest highway tunnel connecting Chengdu to the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. At 13.4 kilometers long, it takes about 15 minutes to exit the tunnel at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

I heard that sometimes it can snow on one side of the tunnel while it's sunny on the other side. However, we didn't see that. It was just cloudy on one side of the tunnel while it was raining on the other side.

This is the most beautiful tunnel I have ever walked through. The LED lights on the top of the tunnel form patterns of the five-star red flag, blue sky and white clouds, maple leaves, etc., which change alternately, giving people a dreamy feeling.

The first stop, the Erlangshan Tunnel, is 13.4 kilometers long and is the longest highway tunnel in China's high-altitude region. At a speed of 60 kilometers per hour, this extra-long tunnel takes nearly 15 minutes to traverse.

"Er ah Erlang Mountain, it's so high, ten thousand feet high." Looking at the name of the Erlang Mountain Tunnel, this song can't help but echo in my ears.

There is an observation deck along the way to see the scenery. The tour takes 10-20 minutes.

The Erlang Mountain Tunnel is more than 4 kilometers long. After exiting the tunnel, it is the junction of the plateau and the plain. There is heavy fog all the way and there is a cliff on the right side of the road, so it is a test of the driver's driving skills. If you are not careful, you may die in Erlang Mountain.

The design of the tunnel top wall gives people a different feeling

Haha, I went there by bike and met a nice guy halfway up the mountain. We bought their apricots and he gave us a big bag.

From here, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway G318 begins. It's a trip you should take once in your lifetime. Ya'an is just a passing point.

This was the first time I met Brother Dai, and I met him several times later. Finally, we formed a stable team of 8 people and arrived in Lhasa!

Seeing the Erlang Mountain Song today reminded me of my late grandfather. When he saw this photo, he said he would sing this song back then...

Anyone who goes to western Sichuan or walks out of the Sichuan-Tibet line will basically take a photo at this place.

The most unforgettable place on the 318 Sichuan-Tibet Highway!

Although it is not a high-end tourist attraction, it does not have an abruptly high altitude.



Erlangshan Tunnel is considered the top of this mountain.

The first high mountain on Route 318, no altitude sickness.



The tunnel is very long, with parking lots and service areas on both sides, serving as a gathering place for vehicles and people. The wind is very strong at the other end of the tunnel, and there is an observation deck overlooking the beautiful scenery below!



The scenery along the way up the mountain is beautiful! The road is winding and built along the mountainside, with cliffs on both sides. One side goes up the mountain, and the other side goes down the valley. Occasionally, there are waterfalls pouring down the opposite side of the valley, and the mountain spring water on the roadside is delicious.

The Erlangshan Tunnel, 4,200 meters long, has a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour and takes only eight minutes to pass through. Located in Erlangshan, on the border of Ya'an City and Luding County in Sichuan Province, the Erlangshan Tunnel begins at the Longdan Creek section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Tianquan County and ends at the Bietoshan section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Luding County. With a total length of 8,596 meters and an entrance at an elevation of 2,200 meters, the tunnel, with a total investment of 470 million yuan, is a crucial project in the Sichuan-Tibet Highway reconstruction.

Early on the morning of October 17th, as we set out from Chengdu along National Highway 318, the sky was overcast and drizzling. I was quite worried, wondering if I could see any beautiful scenery or take any good photos in such weather. However, our Tibetan driver confidently said, "It's okay! Once we cross Erlang Mountain, the weather will be completely different!" Even then, I was still skeptical. Could it really be that magical? Passing through the Erlang Mountain Tunnel, the view suddenly opened up, and I realized it was truly magical! I truly experienced what it means to see the light through the clouds!

Since the opening of the parking lot and rest area, people no longer have to worry about the danger of crossing mountains and ridges. It takes only 5 minutes to cross the highest mountain on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.

Erlang Mountain is a yin-yang mountain. Its eastern side is perpetually shrouded in mist, with the Qingyi River flowing peacefully. Its western side, however, boasts clear skies and the roaring Dadu River. Erlang Mountain is also known for its deadly nature. During the construction of the Erlang Mountain Highway in the 1950s, an average of seven PLA soldiers died per kilometer. Even after the highway opened, scores of casualties continued annually. It wasn't until the completion of the Erlang Mountain Tunnel in 2001 that this forbidding mountain became accessible.

It saves a lot of time, but also loses some of the fun of climbing the mountain. The rest area at the tunnel entrance is a good place for everyone to take a break before entering the tunnel.

2130m above sea level

It is the first pass you pass after leaving Chengdu. It is the natural watershed between the Qingyi River and the Dadu River. After passing this pass, the landform and climate will all change into another realm, which is equivalent to a natural barrier.

Let’s look at the pictures without further explanation. Anyway, it is unlikely that we who live in the eastern region will be able to enjoy such scenery.

Drive to Daocheng Yading to Erlangshan Tunnel with a speed limit of 30 kilometers.

There is nothing special about the Erlangshan Tunnel, but it is famous as the first tunnel on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway into Tibet.

The Erlang Mountain Tunnel is located in Erlang Mountain, on the border between Ya'an City and Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan Province. It starts from the Longdan Creek Sichuan-Tibet Line in Tianquan County and ends at the Bietuo Mountain Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Luding County. It is 8,596 meters long.

The first tunnel between Sichuan and Tibet. There is also a song of Erlang Mountain in front of the tunnel. It is the dividing ridge between Sichuan and western Sichuan.

The tunnel is very long! It has two-way traffic! Two worlds on each side of the tunnel!

My friends and I passed through this place on our way to Seda. The Erlangshan Tunnel is a landmark location. Arriving here is the official start of our Sichuan-Tibet journey. The tunnel is really long, and we had to take some photos. The two sides of Erlangshan are like two opposite skies. It was raining on one side and sunny on the other.

It's just a tunnel we passed by, built under the Erlang Mountain Scenic Area.

What is this honey coin used for? Can it be exchanged for something?

Erlang Mountain is the first hurdle on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. From Xingou Town, the Erlang Mountain Tunnel begins its journey to Luding. The construction of the Erlang Mountain Tunnel was a significant undertaking, requiring significant manpower and resources. The total investment was 470 million RMB. This is a crucial project in the Sichuan-Tibet Highway reconstruction effort. Construction of the Erlang Mountain Tunnel, with its watershed elevation of 2,948 meters, tunnel site elevation of 2,200 meters, maximum depth of 748 meters, and main tunnel length of 4,176 meters, began in July 1996 and took five years to complete, with completion in December 2001. Crossing Erlang Mountain is now very convenient; it only takes a few minutes by car, and even faster by bicycle.

Erlang Mountain originally belonged to the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Xikang Province. It was once the border between the autonomous region and Sichuan Province. Later, due to the abolition of the province, the autonomous region and the district being changed to a prefecture, it is now the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province.

Erlang Mountain, a natural barrier along the thousand-mile Sichuan-Tibet Highway! Erlang Mountain is located in Tianquan County, Ya'an City, on the western edge of the Sichuan Basin. Its center is 50 kilometers west of the county seat, at an altitude of 3,437 meters. It is 172 kilometers from Chengdu and forms the watershed between the Qingyi and Dadu Rivers, marking a natural geographical boundary. Traveling along National Highway 318 requires passing through the Erlang Mountain Tunnel.

In the 1950s, the soldiers of the 18th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army braved danger and overcame numerous difficulties, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ya'an to build the highway to Tibet. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, with its vast length, traverses numerous mountains and rivers, and was an unprecedentedly difficult and arduous construction and maintenance project. During the construction of the Erlang Mountain section, seven soldiers sacrificed their lives for every kilometer, totaling over 3,000 lives.

In the 1950s, Erlang Mountain became famous for the song "Singing Erlang Mountain", "Er, Erlang Mountain, it's so high, ten thousand feet high".

A must-go road, thanks to the builders and guardians.

It was difficult, and when I came out it was sunny.

The tunnel is quite long, about 4-5 kilometers, and the air inside is terrible. You have to close the windows before entering. The lighting inside is also poor. The speed limit sign says 30 kilometers per hour, but many local cars are probably going 70 or 80 kilometers per hour, which is still very dangerous.

318 must pass through the road, perhaps it can be considered the real starting point of western Sichuan, the scenery is very different when passing through the tunnel. You need to pay attention to traffic safety, after all, it is a fully closed road section for several kilometers.

Speaking of scenery, the scenery of Erlang Mountain is absolutely exquisite and beautiful.

It is very easy to get to. Once you pass the tunnel, the sky is different. It is much more convenient to go to Kangding after the tunnel is opened.

There are two completely different weather conditions on both sides of the tunnel. The tunnel is more than 4,100 meters long. Salute to the tunnel builders!

The Erlangshan Tunnel, located at the border between Ya'an and Ganzi Prefecture, is more than 4,000 meters long. After passing through the tunnel, you will enter another world. It is also an iconic landscape on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.

It seems that it was said to be the longest tunnel a long time ago, but I don’t know if it is still the case now. Before I went there, I read on the Internet that it was a completely different world after entering and exiting the tunnel. However, I don’t know if it was because of the bad weather when I went there, but I felt that the scenery on both sides of the tunnel was not much different. After all, there was a lot of fog at the time.

The scenery is very different when you pass through Erlangshan Tunnel. The sky in Chengdu I saw before was all gray, but after passing through it, it was all blue. I was surprised.

A resting place on the Sichuan-Tibet line, nothing special

Wow, what a detailed write-up. I really like it. Thumbs up!

It gets quite cold once you get to Erlang Mountain. The tunnel is nice, the tourism is more mature, there are places specifically for taking photos, toilets, and snacks, it's pretty good.

There is no scenery in the tunnel. It just saves a lot of time climbing the mountain, but it also misses out on a lot of scenery. There is always a trade-off.

Because of the tunnel, the time it takes to cross Erlang Mountain was about an hour shorter than before. When taking photos in the tunnel, please pay attention to safety, observe the passing vehicles, and do not interfere with traffic.

There is a parking area before entering the tunnel, where you can get off the car to take pictures and go to the bathroom...it is more user-friendly

I went there in May 2012, and it seems the Erlangshan Tunnel had just opened. The workers who built the road must have worked so hard!

It's okay. There's no special scenery. The tunnel is probably the longest tunnel in China.

This was the first tunnel we rode through on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, so everyone was quite excited.

There is a big temperature difference on both sides of Erlang Mountain. It is summer before entering Erlang Mountain. The weather changes greatly when you enter the mountain. It may be sunny when you just enter, but it will rain in a moment. The vegetation changes little by little from low altitude to high altitude. When you exit the Erlang Tunnel, you will see blue sky and white clouds, and the climate will suddenly become dry.

After the opening of the Erlangshan Tunnel, the walk in the clouds is no longer possible, but you can still feel the mist lingering on the mountain. After passing through the tunnel, there are two viewing platforms on the mountainside at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters where you can look back at your journey.

The first challenge of cycling along the Sichuan-Tibet line is also the watershed of weather.

The Erlangshan Tunnel saves a lot of climbing, which is a strenuous task. After exiting the tunnel, you can overlook the Gongga Snow Mountain.

The opening of the Erlangshan Tunnel has turned the natural barrier into a thoroughfare. A journey that used to take two days can now be completed in just over ten minutes!

The first mountain I encountered during the Sichuan-Tibet cycling trip was a test drive.

At night, there is also the Erlangshan Tunnel, which is a completely different scene.

Going up Erlang Mountain from Chengdu, the road ahead is very long and the scenery is nothing special, but after passing through the tunnel, the scenery is extremely good!

Starting from 318, nothing special.

As for tunnels, everyone knows about them, there’s actually nothing much to write about!

In July 2015, I embarked on a month-long 318 cycling trip. The journey from Chengdu to Tibet took 26 days, with a three-day break. My teammates and I insisted on not being dragged, pushed, or hitchhiked along the way. To put it simply: the beginning is always difficult, the middle is always painful, but the end is always better than we imagined.

The Erlangshan Tunnel is very impressive. The scenery on the west side is beautiful. There are local specialties for sale on the east side, which is very nice.

It’s not exactly a scenic spot, but for cyclists, it’s a checkpoint where the scenery changes.

Upon sighting the Erlangshan Tunnel, I also spotted its two famous stone tablets: one inscribed with a brief introduction to the tunnel, the other with the song "Singing Erlangshan." Erlangshan, located at the border of Tianquan and Luding counties, is the first major mountain pass on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. Natural disasters abound, and the road conditions are extremely poor. The main tunnel, 4,176 meters long and located at an altitude of 2,180 meters, below the perennial freezing point, was completed and opened on January 1, 2002. The completion and opening of Erlangshan shortened the highway by 25 kilometers, avoiding the most dangerous sections of the route, and was hailed by the Tibetan people as "the second liberation." Standing at the tunnel entrance, reading the inscriptions on the stone tablets before me, humming "Er Ya Mo Erlangshan, high and high, ten thousand feet high," my thoughts drifted back to those passionate times. Countless PLA soldiers and road construction workers used hammers, steel drills, shovels and pickaxes in more than four years to conquer the mountains and rivers of Sichuan and Tibet, creating a miracle in the history of world highway construction. As the song goes: "PLA, men of iron, are determined as steel to build that highway to Tibet. They are not afraid of the wind or snow, they get up early and go to bed late, and endure hunger. Everyone is in high spirits, they open mountains, carry soil, and build bridges, and they are heroes in road construction." And now, riding in this spacious, bright, smooth and unobstructed tunnel, while we are excited that we have climbed the first mountain on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, we must not forget the 4,963 soldiers who died in the construction process. They will go down in history forever.

Most of the people are tourists, and it has become a scenic spot on the Sichuan-Tibet line.

The first mountain to be crossed on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway has the Erlangshan Tunnel, making it much easier to cross the mountain than before.

The first slope of Sichuan-Tibet Road leaves not only footprints but also cycling memories engraved in my heart.

The Erlangshan Tunnel on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway is located in Erlangshan, on the border between Ya'an City and Garze Prefecture in Sichuan Province. It begins at Longdan Creek on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Tianquan County and ends at Bietoshan on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway in Luding County. Its total length is approximately 8,600 meters. The Erlangshan Tunnel is approximately 4,180 meters long, the Bietoshan Tunnel is approximately 100 meters long, and the Hepinggou Bridge is approximately 120 meters long. The road is a Class III mountainous highway with a tunnel entrance at an altitude of 2,200 meters. The total investment is 470 million RMB. This is a key project in the Sichuan-Tibet Highway reconstruction project. Once the tunnel is opened, the natural dangers are eliminated.

The Erlangshan Tunnel is unique in its location, situated on the main road of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. Its construction was a crucial step in the highway's reconstruction. The 4,176-meter-long tunnel opened on December 7, 1999, shortening the journey to Tibet by 25 kilometers and eliminating many of the potential road hazards, such as rain and snow. There are parking lots on both sides of the tunnel, and many tourists get out of their cars to take photos.

Passing by this place, the red leaves are still very beautiful, but the road is under construction now, so it is rarely recommended to walk here.