News: Dubai Builds World's Longest Arched Bridge

Talking about bridges:

If you ask anyone living in Dubai "What is the biggest challenge for you?", most probably they will answer: "Traffic is a bitch!". A big part of the problem is the crossing of the creek, separating the 'old' from the 'new' Dubai, which bottlenecks all traffic shuttling between both parts of town, and between Sharjah and the port area of Jebel Ali. When I went back to Dubai in December, 18 months after I changed my duty station in the UAE for Rome, I saw two new bridges over the creek had been built "while I was away".

Two weeks ago they announced the construction of a sixth creek crossing, designed as a new landmark for Dubai with a price tag of US$681: A 1.6 km long bridge, 64 metres wide and 15 metres above the water level. It will have 12 lanes for road traffic and a track for the Dubai Metro. It will be able to handle 20,000 vehicles an hour. Once finished in 2012, it will hold the record of "The World's Longest Arched Bridge".

The project also includes 12 kilometres of new roads and 22 intersections. And oh, it will also provide access to a new island in the creek, which the local developer plans to build an opera house on. But that is a detail :-)

Check out the other posts about Dubai on "The Road to the Horizon".

Sources: Meed and Dubai Expat Diaries