May 2010
The latest milestone has been hit on the Al Wahda street improvements. Just before midnight on Friday 30 April, the 1,505m-long viaduct section opened – part of the works to improve congestion on one of the main routes through Sharjah.
As engineering consultant for the design and construction supervision, Halcrow is working with the Government of Sharjah’s Department of Public Works on the five-phase road improvement in the King Abdul Aziz Road area.
This was the second of three milestones reached for this phase of the project, which entails completion of the viaduct in Al Wahda Street, including the junction at Yarmook.
This is the first three-level interchange in the city, with the two longest bridges in the city along its route. The longest tunnel in Sharjah, at 168m, was opened in August 2009 as part of the project. A second underpass will open in August this year, completing this phase of the works.
To ensure uninterrupted access to concrete supplies, a dedicated fully computerised and automatic concrete batching plant, together with a casting yard, was constructed on site.
The project involved working in a congested urban environment and required massive relocation/protection of existing services such as laying new major and minor services. This includes placing driven sheet piling for the excavation of an underpass within 1m of the existing 30-year-old oil-filled 132kV cables supplying power to the industrial area.
Resident engineer, Mike Johnston, commented: “By ensuring that staged completion of the various sections of the complex and challenging works has been achieved within or ahead of the milestones, disruption to the general public and motorists has been kept to an absolute minimum.”