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

  • Barge-mounted Manitowoc MLC300 lists Illinois bridge into place
    June 28, 2018
    The reduced footprint and floating counterweight meant that it is much more efficient for contractors to barge-mount a crawler crane. The crane can be on smaller water-based barges because the machine automatically adjusts its centre of gravity for each lift. Kraemer North America recently used an MLC300 to help replace an 84-year-old truss bridge, the 756m Savanna-Sabula Bridge near Savanna, in the US state of Illinois. The Savanna–Sabula Bridge was a truss bridge and causeway crossing the Mississippi Ri
  • Uganda’s Jinja bridge open to traffic
    October 22, 2018
    Uganda’s Jinja Nile Bridge is now open to traffic. Costing US$129 million in all, around $100 million of the funding was supplied by Japan in the form of a loan. The 525m-long bridge features a cable-stayed design, the longest of its type in Uganda and second longest in East Africa after the 680m-long Kigamboni bridge in Tanzania, which also recently opened to traffic. Egypt’s Suez Canal Bridge is the longest cable-stayed type in Africa, measuring 3.9km, followed by the 1.36km Lekki Ikoyi Bridge in Nigeria
  • Italy's new southern highway route
    May 13, 2021
    An important new highway route is currently under construction in South Italy