Wahda relief

The major infrastructure project that is Al Wahda Street is set to be fully opened this time next year, much to the delight of Sharjah residents and commuters. But the journey to this stage in the project has not been taken without facing a few bumps in the road, as consultant Halcrow explains.

Al Wahda Street is classed the main artery that runs through Sharjah, heading off towards the emirate. Last year this vital corridor, from Al Falah Plaza to Cultural Square, was closed to traffic so that construction of one of the biggest road projects the city has seen could begin.

It comes as no surprise that the closure has caused a hot topic of discussion among Sharjah residents and those traveling in and out of the city.

But, as any project goes, there has to be a little disruption before there can be construction. And, according to Halcrow, the developer on the project, Al Wahda Street was in much need of a revamp.

"Traffic was heavy before and there were temporary bridges over all junctions that were put in place in the 1980's," says Halcrow chief resident engineer Steve Hodgkins.

"These bridges just couldn't cope with the sheer volume of traffic so they had to be replaced with proper designed junctions. Obviously it has taken a long time for the design to be prepared and implemented in the fashion that it has."

The entire project involves the redevelopment of 6km-long road consisting of four major interchanges - Cultural Square, Flying Saucer roundabout, Yarmouk junction and Abu Shagara.

The project is due to be fully completed in September, 2010.

Last month, the two former interchanges were opened to the public six days ahead of schedule.

The cultural square interchange now consists of an underpass along Al Wahda Street, passing below cultural square roundabout and leading traffic to and from Sheikh Mohammed bin Saqr Al Qassimi Road.

The ramp portion of the tunnel is around 500m-long on either side with a closed tunnel of length around 175m, while the interchange at the flying saucer junction is grade-separated with a viaduct around 550m-long and an at-grade signalised junction.

When it comes to Al Wahda Street, Halcrow has handled everything from concept design through to construction management. And, although the first phase of the road project has been launched successfully, there were a few twists and turns before the building process could even begin.

In April 2006, Halcrow was awarded the contract to take on the major road project and soon realised that it would be no easy task. Al Wahda Street runs from the southern emirates through to the northern emirates - a route for traffic but also a route for all the major utilities.

"We have had to divert them all," said Halcrow senior resident engineer Mike Johnston. "Also, we have had to layer all the services because there wasn't room to put them all side by side."

Utilities such as a 2.2 diametre water pumping main, as well as 132KV cables and 30 inch gas pipelines ran through the tight corridor.

Further, the developer had to take into account how traffic could flow without the use of Al Wahda Street and thus needed to create alternative routes.

Halcrow improved all roads, which were use to divert traffic to and developed them into three-lane roads. The company also improved roundabouts and junctions, such as Kuwait Square.

"We have had to keep local access, which is a nightmare because Al Wahda  is the main commercial road," explains Johnston. "We turned nine roundabouts into signalised intersections.

We widened nearly 20km of road to ease the traffic flow and all of this was done in advance to keep traffic moving."

"The first year was devoted almost entirely to alternative traffic routes and investigating the services that had to be diverted and that took over a year before we could consider closing Al Wahda Street in the form that it's closed today," reports Hodgkins.

Once the road was closed, there was an agreed opening schedule of the various junctions to allow the people of Sharjah to get back the use of Al Wahda Street.

"Hopefully [the launch of Al Wahda Street] will tie in with other events like the completion of King Abdulaziz, which is a separate project in itself," Hodgkins adds.

King Abdulaziz is the other main road in Sharjah that Halcrow wanted to create, which passes through industrial areas before crossing over Al Wasit Road towards Al Wahda Road, and stretching out towards the Al Qasimia area via Abu Shagara.

This route didn't exist five years ago and is expected to be finished between 2010 and 2011.

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