Work on Dubai’s floating bridge is expected to be completed in July.
Installation of the 20-metre-wide hollow blocks, out of which the bridge will be built, will begin this month.
The blocks allow the bridge, the first of its kind to be developed in the UAE, to float on water.
Austrian contractor Waagner Biro Gulf won the US $42 million (AED155 million) contract to build the floating bridge over Dubai’s Creek last November.
“Work is well under way and we aim to be finished by July,” said Klaus Eidelpes of Waagner Biro Gulf.
The three-lane bridge is being built half a kilometre to the south of Al Maktoum Bridge.
Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) recently announced that a further $10 million would be added to the budget for the expansion of the roads leading to Maktoum Bridge from Bur Dubai and Deira sides, taking the total to $45 million.
The project will include the expansion of Tariq bin Ziyad Street from three lanes to six lanes from Zabeel intersection to Oud Metha Street, and seven lanes after the intersection.