Skip to main content

Kuwait causeway connection construction complete

Kuwait’s innovative Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway connection is now complete and open to traffic. Measuring 48.5km in all, the new causeway comprises the 36.1km Subiyah Link and the 12.4km Doha Link, making this the world’s fourth longest bridge. Dar’s worked as lead consultant on the project working alongside Dar Group sister companies TY Lin International, Ross & Baruzzini and Currie & Brown. Dar was the Engineer’s Representative and the construction supervisor, as well as leading detailed desi
May 20, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Kuwait’s novel causeway project is both innovative and effective

Kuwait’s innovative Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway connection is now complete and open to traffic. Measuring 48.5km in all, the new causeway comprises the 36.1km Subiyah Link and the 12.4km Doha Link, making this the world’s fourth longest bridge.

Dar’s worked as lead consultant on the project working alongside Dar Group sister companies 3355 TY Lin International, Ross & Baruzzini and Currie & Brown. Dar was the Engineer’s Representative and the construction supervisor, as well as leading detailed design review on transportation, GIS, environmental, geotechnical and marine works.

Dar’s brief from for Kuwait’s Public Authority for Roads & Transportation (PART) was to ensure a 100-year service life in a challenging coastal marine environment.

The Causeway facilitates development of the border region of Subiyah, which will be the site of a major free-trade zone, Madinat al-Hareer or Silk City, reviving Kuwait’s place on the ancient Silk Route. Land areas of 350,000m2 and 600,000m2 have been reclaimed at either end of the Causeway, while two artificial islands of 300,000m2 each have been constructed along its length.

The Causeway carries dual carriageways, each with a total width of 17m and carrying three lanes of traffic, an emergency lane and a hard shoulder. The main section reduces the journey time from Kuwait City to Subiyah from 70 minutes to 20 minutes. The subsidiary link to Doha (Kuwait) and the Kuwait Entertainment City reduces journey times from 30 minutes to 7 minutes.

A cable-stayed bridge in the main section creates a navigation channel 120m wide and 23m high to enable access to Kuwait’s Doha port. This opening in the Causeway is supported by a 151m-high pylon, inspired in its shape by a traditional sailboat, but unconventional in its engineering.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Controversial Russian bridge opens
    August 10, 2018
    The first stage of a controversial Russian bridge project is now complete, with the link having been opened to use by cars and buses. The Kerch Strait bridge spans the Black Sea, connecting Russia’s Taman Peninsula in Krasnodar with Crimea, the latter having been controversially annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. The official opening of the 19km-long bridge was carried out by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who drove across the link in a Russian-manufactured Kamaz truck to reach the city of Kerch.
  • Formwork innovations help bridge building
    July 7, 2015
    A series of formwork developments are helping with challenging bridge construction projects around the world - Mike Woof writes In the Polish city of Krakow, a cost-effective cable stayed bridge is being constructed using a balanced cantilever technique. The current expansion of the Krakow metropolitan railway network (KST) requires the building of a crossing of the Krakow-Plaszow railway junction. Ensuring that daily rail operations remained unaffected during the construction of the 252m long crossing w
  • Mexico: underwater tunnel in Latin America
    May 8, 2015
    Mexico will benefit from an important new underwater tunnel - Mauro Nogarin writes. The city of Coatzacoalcos is located at the mouth of the river of the same name, in the Gulf of Mexico, 302km from the city of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, in the east end of trans-isthmian corridor and at the southern end of Veracruz State. The city is seeing a key development as currently construction is 85% completed on the first immersed tube, underwater tunnel in Latin America. The reasons why experts chose this type of tunne
  • 1st IRF Europe & Central Asia Regional Congress held on in Turkey
    November 18, 2015
    The International Road Federation (IRF) organised its first Regional Congress & Exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey on 15–18 September, 2015 The IRF is a non-governmental, not-for-profit membership organisation founded in Washington, DC in 1948 with the mission to encourage and promote development and maintenance of better, safer and more sustainable roads and road networks around the world.