The Topline The sixth crossing over Dubai Creek set to be the most expensive and longest arch bridge in the world.
An image of the proposed arch bridge in Dubai.
Engineer Maitha Bin Adai, CEO of Traffic and Roads Agency at the press conference.
Posted on 01/29/2008 10:10:02 AM PST by Squidpup
A New York architectural firm has been selected by Dubai authorities to design the longest and what could be the most expensive arch bridge in the world.
The firm FXFOWLE has designed a unique structure that will include massive archways that will tower 205 metres above 12 lanes of traffic and two railway lines carrying Dubai Metro trains along the Green Line.
The bridge’s largest main span will be 667 metres long, eclipsing the 550-metre main span of Lupu Bridge in Shanghai, China, which is currently the world’s longest arch bridge.
The Dh3-billion project will take four years to build, said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Roads and Transport Authority.
It “should be completed by the end of 2012 if not sooner,” he told XPRESS following a press conference Tuesday.
Images of the proposed structure reveal an ambitious plan to erect a sixth crossing over Dubai Creek that will link Dubai Festival City and Al Jaddaf on the west side of the creek.
The design is based on an “acoustic wave” and will depend on an artificial island built just to the north of the existing Creek Island where the proposed Dubai Opera house is planned in coming years.
Al Tayer told reporters that the project is one of the largest in the RTA’s history and is so large, in fact, that it will require the project to be done in six phases. Construction will take four years to complete.
The proposed bridge will be located south of the existing Business Bay Crossing and will be large enough to handle 20,000 vehicles per hour across 12 lanes in total, six lanes in each direction, Al Tayer said.
The metro train will carry 23,000 passengers an hour across the bridge.
The bridge will rise 15 metres above the creek to allow for free navigation, although the floating bridge to the north which was erected last year has already blocked some boats.
Despite the bridge’s scale, the RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency CEO Maitha bin Adai said that the structure has been designed to be integrated into the environment and natural surroundings.
She said that is “the beauty of the design, the harmony of construction that fits into the environment”.
The firm FXFOWLE’s international director Steven Miller couldn’t be reached for comment at the company’s Dubai office on Tuesday.
But the company states on its website that it “is committed to creating architect6ure which stimulates and inspires; an architecture that tells the story of place, of institutional and individual aspiration, and of synergy between the natural and built realms.
“Over the years, the meaning of green architecture and sustainable design has evolved an FXFOWLE has remained in the forefront of that dialogue,” the firm stated.
Images released by the RTA show that the bridge will be illuminated at night in a way that resembles the varying fullness of the moon.
FAST FACTS
• The bridge will cost Dh3 billion • Construction will take four years • The giant arch is 205 metres high and 667 metres long making it the longest span in the world • The Green Line of the Dubai Metro will pass down the centre of the new bridge • The project will serve Dubai Healthcare City, Sama Al-Jadaf and Culture Village • There will be 12 lanes on the bridge, six in each direction • The bridge will be 15 metres above the creek surface to allow for free navigation
Source: RTA
$100 a barrel of oil buys plenty of toys (not to mention bombs, madrassahs, and board seats in US companies)
That’s not an arch bridge. It’s a suspension bridge.
Not Guilty!
If the current 'Disneylandia' (to use a non-word) over Dubai ends, the city will end up being one of the world's prettiest failures.
It's suspended from an arch not a cable.
Looks like Crusty-The-Pantsuit...only worn a bit high-waisted.
The bridge still depends on the arch for support (as opposed to towers in ordinary suspension bridges).
You mean natural gas.
Dubai doesn’t have so much oil. They’ve made their money mostly on commerce. Abu Dhabi possesses most of UAE’s oil (more than 90%). Which means that after the oil runs out, Dubai’s wealth will last, while Saudi Arabia’s will decline.
The upper bridge is what an arch bridge looks like. Its the one over the New River in WVA. Its the longest one in the Western Hemisphere.
I know the bridge from Saudi to Bahrain is huge .... beautiful too.
That is a LOT of steel.
Wow. Where’s the environmental impact statements for the, carbon footprint, snail darter, spotted owls and all the other must haves before projects like this can be started?
I suppose you have to spend billions of oil dollars on something but why not spend it on making your country marginally habitable? (greening the desert like Israel) as opposed to builidng bridges and shopping malls with skiing hills in them.
I noticed that the Chinese version also used suspension. That’s not a pure arch bridge. I guess I’m a purist.
At $85 a barrel for oil, UAE annual production of oil is worth more than 8 times as much as their annual production of natural gas.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/RecentTotalOilSupplyBarrelsperDay.xls
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/RecentNaturalGasProductionTCF.xls
Nice link. Thank you.
It sure will! Unfortunately, Dubai doesn't have any oil.
That’s weird. I thought I heard some talking head on CNBC say that the UAE’s wealth was primarily in natgas. I wonder who I’m confusing it with?
Interesting that a lady is in such a high position in this part of the world, I thought.
Nothing wrong with that or the bridge either.
Woo! Time to pay Dubai another visit soon.
Lebanon and Jordan are the only two Middle East Countries that produce no oil. However, some like Israel and Bahrain produce very little.
And I’ve been on both and the dive down and up the New River Gorge over the old bridge is neat. The steel arch was built in 1974. They use to park rail cars full of coal on the old bridge (not shown) to hold it in place when the New was up into flood stage.
Dubai isn't a country. It is an "Emirate" or city/state. The 15% of natives live pretty much a life of leisure. If they work at all, it is in very cushy white-collar professions. The other 85% of the population are foreign workers from all over the world. They stay and work in Dubai for a few years, return home and reapply for work visas. Dubai's shopping malls are the most extravagant in the world and "shopping tourists" pump billions into Dubai's economy each year.
Dubai is doing very well for itself. No reason to change. For the record, there are plenty of trees in Dubai.
Although the fields are getting small in reserves, Dubai Petroleum Company (established 1966) operates the offshore oil fields of Dubai. Those fields are Fateh, Southwest Fateh, Falah and Rashid.
Why green the country when you can pave it over? They can import all their food and frankly what they’re during will ensure they have a future after oil.
Dubai - actually, the entire UAE - is VERY liberal compared to the rest of the Middle East. Much like Lebanon. The princes and governments of the UAE are also very smart - they aren’t just wasting the money they are getting, they are working on making the UAE not only a playground for the rich (think Monaco, Bahamas), but the Wall Street of the Middle East - the financial and information hub of that region.
the UAE is actually pretty nice, as far as the Middle East goes...
There is a lot of exploration going on in Israel. The lowest point on earth is at the dead sea.
The oil pools in Israel tie into the arab oil pools and since they are lower than the arab pools, will have the benefit of having the arab oil seep down into the Israeli wells as Israel begins drawing a lot of oil out.
The oil is one reason the arabs want to destroy Isarel along with their eternal ancestral struggles. Whoever conquers Israel will inherit the oil.
Did I miss your sarcasm tag?
BOMB MAGNET
Dubai is pretty modern and western-friendly.
Nearby Sharjah, however, is not.
“BOMB MAGNET”
...Besides the initial not guilty thought, that is exactly what I was thinking...Sadly I might add.
Maitha Bin Adai is a skilled engineer. Also, a babe, at least based on the photo shown here. Kudos to the Emirate for being a truly forward-looking Arab state.
Though taken in Clifton Forge on the Jackson, The Creek can get up a little:
There are double track in many place along The Gorge, especially at the bridge; now owned by Chessie Rail Systems the old Chesapeake & Ohio. The C&O was the only railroad during the Great Depression to make profit and expand during that time because of their ability to haul coal out W. Va and Ky and Va. The C&O was a major key player during WWII and the goods they hauled (timber, coal, and chemicals). 
Before the new bridge was built, motorist would take 45 minutes or longer to go in and come out over the old bridge. If it were snowing, 2 hrs or better.
OK I'm a train nut:
C&O H-8 #1648 AT HANDLEY, WV TERMINAL WITH ROAD ENGINES AND SWITCHERS PRESENT JUL 1955. ROAD ENGINES ARE JUST OUT OF STORAGE DUE TO UPSURGE IN COAL TRAFFIC PHOTO BY GENE HUDDLESTON
Beautiful. Thanks for posting this, Squidpup.
I’ve done that one hour trip back then. I’m very grateful for that bridge. Since some arch style bridges have suspension features, I really think they ought to claim the New River Bridge to be the “Longest Suspensionless Bridge in the World”.
The King says build it, then it gets built. Nice and easy, huh?
Cool. The hills in WVa are pretty neat. The locals are laid back, polite and helpful for the most part. Old school politics and big business believe it or not. I love Marlington and the Greenbriar Valley / Greenbriar River. Tourons are eating it up (devouring & trashing) those areas now.
Commerce dollars, not oil dollars. They're already the shipping hub of the area, and have been making good progress at becoming the tourism, business, high-tech and banking hub too. It helps that they are very easy on the taxes. And in case the local scene disintegrates they have massive investments almost everywhere important in the world through the Dubai World company.
Check out the photo of the lovely engineer. You can see why I always say that women from that part of the world have the most beautiful eyes!
The irony is I’m on another thread debating with someone about the femininity of ME females.
He doesn’t think they know how to use it....
Man, didn't Dubai get the memo: women should be seen, and not very much at that, and not heard.
Mad Mo (piss be upon his head) will be most displeased.
NO one on earth is better at ultra glam hair, make-up and nails than these girls.
I believe they’re building some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers in Dubai as well.
You’s guys might want to check out the other picture (4/5) on the photo gallery at the link.
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