Dubai plans to build the world’s longest arch bridge at a cost of 3 billion dirhams ($816.9 million), the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said on Tuesday.
The RTA said it would take four years to construct the mega-bridge, which will measure 1,600 metres with an arch 205 metres high and 667 metres long.
Once complete the bridge will overtake the Lupu Bridge in Shanghai as the longest in the world.
The Lupu measures 3,900 metres with an arch span of 550 metres. The span is the most common way to rank arch bridges, so if one bridge has a longer span than another it does not mean the bridge is longer from shore to shore or anchorage to anchorage.
The bridge connects the Bur Dubai and Deira areas of the city and will be the sixth creek crossing. Currently the five Dubai Creek crossings are Al Shindagha Tunnel, Al Maktoum Bridge, the Floating Bridge, Al Garhoud Bridge and Business Bay Crossing.
At 64 metres wide, the bridge will accommodate 12 lanes of traffic and a metro line running down its centre.
The bridge will also include a metro station, an abra station and the manmade island on which an Opera theatre will be constructed.
Mattar Al Tayer, executive director of the RTA, said the sixth crossing was one of the biggest projects ever undertaken by the RTA.
“The project aims at easing traffic flow between the two banks of Dubai Creek and serve the new property developments,” Al Tayer said.
The RTA is currently investing around $22 billion in Dubai’s transport infrastructure as it looks to reduce congestion.
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The investment plan allocates $12 billion for new roads, $2.5 billion each for marine transport and tram systems, $6.3 billion for the Dubai Metro and $600 million for new buses.
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