Saadiyat Bridge construction on course

Dubai: The 10-lane Saadiyat Bridge - which will link Abu Dhabi city with Saadiyat Island that lies 500 metres offshore the UAE capital - is now 60 per cent complete and is fast emerging as a major landmark in the emirate.

The bridge - one of the largest infrastructure projects currently under way in Abu Dhabi emirate - is being built by an ED Zublin/Saif Bin Darwish joint venture for Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), Abu Dhabi's leading tourism asset development and the name behind Saadiyat Island's transformation into a signature leisure, residential and cultural destination.

"We are well on course for the targeted completion of the bridge in September next year well in advance of the planned opening of some key Saadiyat facilities, including some five-star resorts planned for Saadiyat Beach and the Saadiyat Beach Golf Course," said Lee Tabler, chief executive officer of TDIC.

Features

Set to become one of the world's great non-suspension bridges, the concrete span bridge, which has a mid span of approximately 200 metres, will connect Saadiyat Island with Abu Dhabi city from the Mina Zayed main port area, creating a five-minute drive access between the two.

Saadiyat Bridge, which has been designed as a concrete box girder carrying five lanes of traffic in each direction as well as two future passenger rail system tracks, is being built using balanced cantilever, cast-in place and incremental launch methodologies.

It will eventually merge into the 6.5-kilometre Saadiyat Link road, also under construction, connecting Abu Dhabi's Shahama district with Saadiyat Island.

When complete, these two major developments will result in a 15-minute fast-track access from Abu Dhabi International Airport to Saadiyat Island.

The construction of Saadiyat Link, also due for completion in September 2009, is being carried out by TDIC-Leighton Contracting - a strategic joint venture between TDIC and Gulf Leighton.