Roads & Bridges

Bahrain’s 2030 roadmap on track<!--lead3--><!--top3-->

The Mina Salman interchange ... three-level grade-separated intersection.

BAHRAIN is pursuing an extensive plan, in line with its Economic Vision 2030, to revamp its infrastructure by planning new roads, bridges and even a railway system to ease traffic congestion and meet the needs of an increasing population.

The private sector will be given a larger role in realising this vision, say officials who attended a three-day Infrastructure Middle East Conferences and Exhibition 2011 held in Bahrain last month (January 17 to 19). The conference was organised by the Ministry of Works (MoW), Bahrain Society of Engineers (BSE) and Euro Institute for Information and Technology Transfer under the patronage of Bahrain’s Works Minister Essam Khalaf.

Among the projects highlighted were the North Manama Causeway, Mina Salman interchange and Isa Town flyover.

The North Manama Causeway ... now under construction.

The Mina Salman Interchange is among the major projects that are set to take off in the next couple of months, according to Huda Abdulla Fakhroo, the MoW’s road planning and design director.

The interchange at the junction of Al Fateh Highway and Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Highway will be a three-level grade-separated interchange featuring an underpass (three-lane dual carriageway) in the east-west direction along Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Highway to facilitate an uninterrupted flow of traffic between Bahrain Map and Hidd; and a two-lane from west to north bridge for vehicles turning left from Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Highway on to Al Fateh Highway.

Other movements will remain at-grade and controlled by signals at the junction.

Bids for the project have been submitted and a contract award is expected to be announced shortly, with work to be completed in two-and-a-half years. The project aims to provide sufficient capacity for road corridors between the main entry points (King Fahd Causeway to Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Khalifa Port and the airport) by improving the throughput of critical junctions along the major transport corridors.

On the BD50-million ($132.6 million) Isa Town Interchange, meanwhile, work has started on the installation of concrete sections on the eastern bridge that will take traffic from Esteqlal Highway towards Sheikh Salman Highway. This comes after the western bridge was completed last December. Work is also progressing on the underpasses.

Visitors at the Infrastructure Middle East Conferences and Exhibition.

The western bridge and underpass will be opened for traffic in May, while the entire project will be completed in September.

Upon the completion of this project, which was converted from a previous roundabout into a three-tier intersection, traffic flow will ease to a great extent. The three tiers include a 560-m-long underpass as an extension of the Sheikh Salman Highway, which will allow smooth traffic flow; an at-grade bridge with traffic signals to control traffic coming from the Ministry of Labour to Isa Town gate; and two elevated bridges – the eastern one being 885 m long and the western measuring 905 m to allow free flow of traffic between Sheikh Salman Highway and Esteqlal Highway.

Construction of the project, which came to a temporary halt after the original contractor, Sungwon Corporation, was axed in February last year, was later re-tendered and awarded to Nass Corporation in May.

The MoW has also begun work on the remainder of the works to revamp Sheikh Salman Highway in Manama, in addition to revamping a number of roads in Bilad Al Qadeem at a cost of BD1.6 million ($4.24 million).

Isa Town Interchange ... part of it is expected to open in May.

The plan includes removing the layer of asphalt and deteriorated parts of the highway and remaining roads and replacing them with two layers of filling category A and B, followed by layers of asphalt on other parts of the highway. The 28-week project, awarded to National Excavation Establishment, is expected to be ready by the end of July.

Railway system
Another huge plan initiated by the MoW to streamline the country’s transport system is a BD3-billion ($8 billion) railway system, which includes light rail transport (LRT), a monorail, tramway, rapid bus transit, stations, and service roads.

Work on the country’s first railway system could be under way by the end of next year, provided that the detail design, implementation documents and approval of government are finalised. “We could actually begin to see infrastructure development on the plan begin sometime in 2012,” says Fakhroo.

The total length of the entire system is 184.2 km and it will be built in three phases. The 24-km first phase constitutes a railway line linking Bahrain Mall with Bahrain International Airport and another linking the mall with Juffair. It will comprise both LRT and tramway and will cost BD453 million ($1.2 billion). This phase will consist of two routes – a red line (LRT) and a green line (tramway) – and it will take about 13 months to complete once work starts.

A map showing the proposed public transport network.

Work on the 72-km, BD1.5-billion ($3.97 billion) second phase will begin as soon as the first phase is complete. It will consist of LRT, a monorail and bus rapid transport (BRT) and is slated to be completed by 2021, while the BD1.1-billion ($2.91 billion) third phase – expected to start in 2022 and finish by 2030 – will consist of an LRT, monorail, tram and BRT system.

The masterplan for the project, completed some two years ago, proposes six routes covering the entire country. These routes will be allocated different colours. The Red Line light rail system will start at the airport and run through Muharraq, Manama, past Bahrain Mall to Isa Town and then Riffa, Durrat Al Bahrain and the Hawar Islands. It will link with the Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Causeway.

The Green Line will feature a tramway from Juffair to Manama, going past the Pearl Roundabout, Seef District, Bahrain Mall, Jidhafs and Budaiya. A Brown Line will feature a light rail system running from Manama to Jidhafs, Salmabad, Hamad Town, Bahrain University and the Bahrain International Circuit. The Blue Line comprising a monorail will connect Juffair, Al Fateh Highway, Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Causeway and the new Northern Town off the Budaiya coast. The Purple Line bus route will begin at Bahrain University, Sakhir, and run through Hamad Town, Riffa and Sitra before ending in Manama.

The Orange Line, on the other hand, is a bus transport system beginning in Hidd, passing along the Sheikh Hamad Highway, past Bahrain International Airport and the King Faisal Highway before reaching Diyar Al Muharraq.

A new consultant will now be hired to carry out a detailed feasibility study, and look at the routes and its specifications, and will also evaluate the findings and recommendations of the previous study. In addition, it will also look into the impact of the project. The feasibility study will begin this year and will take about 12 to 14 months.

An allocation has been made in this year’s budget for this detailed new study, she says.

“Furthermore, the new consultant has also been asked to look at the economic viability of going underground and if it is still an option. Though this is a more expensive solution, of course, we don’t want to overlook it,” Fakhroo says.

Also part of the consultant’s role will be to look at the cost benefit of the project and the financial model to engage the private sector.

Fakhroo says 10 consultants had earlier been prequalified. But the whole exercise will now be redone, “since the masterplan was done a long time back and we think there might be other companies, with better experience,” she states.
Work on Phase One will begin immediately after the detailed study is completed, she says, adding that the entire rail network is set to be in place by 2030.