Highway to happiness

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(Rajesh Raghav/ITP Images)

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The highway stretches over the Sheikh Khalifa Bridge, before traversing across Saadiyat and Yas Islands and joining up with E11 to Dubai. (Rajesh Raghav/ITP Images)

The Sheikh Khalifa Bridge and accompanying Saadiyat-Shahama highway were delivered at the start of October. CW takes a look at how the project was delivered on time.

Anyone who regularly travels down the UAE’s E11 highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi knows that the drive can be awful – in both senses of the word. While navigating among some of the more erratic drivers can be a little nerve-racking, there is the sight of the Aldar HQ, Al Raha Beach, Yas and Saadiyat Islands, which inspire awe even if you’ve become jaded by the megaprojects in the Emirates.

However, the opening of the bridge at Saadiyat, and the Saadiyat-Shahama highway on October 14th, means the journey is now a little less stressful, and just as amazing.

Starting from Port Zayed in Abu Dhabi, the highway stretches over the now-named Sheikh Khalifa Bridge, before traversing 27km across Saadiyat Island and Yas Island and joining back up with E11 to Dubai.

The bridge marks the first time Saadiyat Island has been joined to Abu Dhabi and provides a crucial connection for the Tourism Development and Investment Council (TDIC) and its plans for the islands. Saadiyat will provide a cultural destination for tourists and residents in Abu Dhabi, while Yas Island will provide leisure and entertainment, including the Ferrari World theme park and Formula One.

Construction on the bridge began in December 2006 and saw more than 7.5 million man hours put in to ensure the project was completed on schedule.

A joint venture between Zublin – Saif Bin Darwish used approximately 15,000 tonnes of asphalt and 15,500 tonnes of reinforcement steel to build the 1.4km bridge, which can hold 10 lanes of traffic. Construction took 30 months.

Keeping to the schedule of the project was vital, explains Zublin project manager Holger Schmidt. “It was very important to deliver the project on time because the bridge was needed for the Formula One Grand Prix. Otherwise people coming to the event from Abu Dhabi would have to drive to the airport and back up to Yas Island.”

Meeting this challenge required careful preparation and the corralling of international expertise. “We prepared all our internal systems to make sure we could deliver on time,” says Schmidt. “Also we brought many experts from Germany to work hard on this project. We had around 25 to 30 people from Germany here at one stage.”

Working on form

An important element in ensuring the Sheikh Khalifa Bridge was delivered on time, was the formwork. RJR Formwork supplied a flexible system that has been tried and tested elsewhere in the UAE and has proven particularly effective for bridge construction.

RJR provided a system that could be moved along the bridge without dismantling, creating a considerable saving both in terms of time and manpower required.

“We were able to move the system three times without dismantling it, which offered considerable advantages over traditional systems. They’ve used the system very successfully,” says managing director Roger Ratcliffe.

He estimates that the RJR system greatly reduced the need for manpower on site and helped the project be delivered on time.

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