Considerable progress has been made on a project to enhance the capacity of a key highway in Bahrain, the country’s Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning Minister has said.
Speaking during a press conference, Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf said that the Al Fateh Highway Upgrade Project will increase the highway’s capacity by 61%, from 87,000 vehicles per day to 140,000 vehicles per day once completed.
He added that, including the design and site supervision contracts, the project costs $107.49 million.
According to a Bahrain News Agency report, completed works include the construction of all the piles and piers of the U-turn flyover. It added that the process of constructing the flyover is proceeding according to the programme.
The flyover is scheduled for opening to traffic in the last quarter of this year.
The construction of piles for the left-turn flyover for traffic heading towards Prince Saud Al Faisal Highway has begun, in conjunction with the required traffic diversions to provide workspace, the report added.
This part of the project will open for traffic in first quarter of 2023. Additionally, secant piling works are in progress in preparation for the underpass excavation and structural works, it said.
“Bahrain is working in accordance with Vision 2030 to design, implement and manage the roads network to provide safe, smooth, and effective traffic movement for all road users, supported an infrastructure that incorporates latest standards and guidelines,” said the minister.
He highlighted that many ground services that impeded the main works of expanding and upgrading Al Fateh highway, have been diverted, in addition to the construction of the main sewage water line extending from Juffair to Al Ghuraifah which has been recently completed.
The ministry has been working since April 2021 on the main works of the project which is expected to be completed in 2024, he added.
Al Fateh Highway Upgrade Project starts from the entrance to the Exhibitions Avenue in the north to Mina Salman interchange in the south. It includes the development of Shaikh Daij junction, Al-Fateh Center junction, and Dulab junction, with the aim of providing seamless traffic in both directions, the BNA report said.
The main works of the project include the expansion and upgrade of Al Fateh Highway to four lanes in each direction over more than 3 km, and the construction of an underpass with three lanes in both directions with a length of 595 m at Gulf Hotel Junction for traffic between north and south, in addition to signal-controlled junction at ground level.
The project also includes the construction of a one-way left-turn flyover with two lanes for people coming from Manama from the north on Al Fateh Highway towards Prince Saud Al Faisal Avenue. The junction of Al Fateh Highway with Shaikh Daij Avenue will be removed to provide free traffic movement on ground level.
In addition, the project will see the construction of a U-turn flyover with two lanes near the entrance to Al Fateh Corniche for northbound traffic to turn towards the south.
Al Fateh Highway is considered as the main artery carrying traffic for East Manama, and it is an integral part of the ring road in the capital, Manama, which, upon completion, aims to provide free flow traffic around the capital.
The main works of the project have been awarded to a joint venture between Nass Contracting Company (Bahrain) and Huta Hegerfeld Saudi Ltd (Saudi Arabia) by the Tender Board with a contract sum of $78.67 million, financed by Saudi Fund for Development (SFD).
The three-year infrastructure project which was given the go-ahead in April 2021 is under the supervision of Parsons Engineering Consultancy.