MORE than half the work has been completed on a major road project that aims to ease traffic congestion along Riyadh’s ring roads and reduce the travelling time to the centre of the Saudi capital.

The project, which entails the extension of Al Oruba Road and Abu Bakr Al Siddiq Road through Riyadh Airbase, is being implemented by leading contracting firm Almabani General Contractors under a contract worth SR1.75 billion ($466.64 million).

According to Almabani, 67 per cent of the works has been completed on this key infrastructure contract, which was awarded by the Arriyadh Development Authority (ADA) in August 2009.

Targeted for completion by the year-end, the project has involved designing, building and commissioning all infrastructure and networks. Bernard of Austria is the project consultant.

Equipment at work on site.

“The project is being built in the premises of the Old Arriyadh Airbase, which is located in the city’s new urban area,” says Rami Beylouni, technical manager of Almabani. “The aim of the development is to streamline the traffic along Riyadh’s ring roads and provide a rapid link from the city periphery to the urban centre.”

Besides its functional role in easing traffic flow within Riyadh, the project has been designed as a landmark at the entrance to the city with its 200,000-sq-m cloverleaf-shaped intersection. Other aesthetic highlights include the checkerboard-pattern grass that will be a feature of the landscaping and architectural suspended airplane models arranged along a running path.

“This ‘flight path’ combined with a modern graphic design along the road limits reminds of its proximity to the airbase. The roadsides and embankments with their landscaping scheme and exposed rock embankments, give an authentic desert touch to the location,” explains Beylouni.

The project has involved the construction of 11 km of roads, infrastructure, tunnels, underpasses, bridges and a flyover, as well as a complete, sustainable water management network and a fully-centralised traffic management, monitoring and control system.

Three open-trench tunnels, extending a total length of 2 km, have been constructed in a record time as part of the project. “These three tunnels were completed and backfilled and handed over in record time, so that airport runways and a royal apron could be reconstructed over them. The tunnels roof decks were constructed with rolling scaffolding and formwork,” says Beylouni.

A cloverleaf intersection taking shape.

He points out that three of the project’s links to the existing roads were at very congested intersections. To facilitate work on these aspects, a complicated traffic diversion plan was drawn up and included the installation and relocation of utilities in a very congested environment.

The project has also called for the construction of two 210-m-long bridges, designed as single box girders, with longitudinal as well as transversal post-tensioning; installation of some 40 km of drainage and water management systems; construction of 5 km of retaining walls; installation of 13,200 linear m of permanent fencing; construction of 8 km of municipality stormwater box culverts as well as the relocation of 1 km of stormwater box culverts.

The scope of works has also included the construction of three firefighting stations, five pump stations, a water treatment plant for irrigation and firefighting; and nine control and ancillary buildings.

The road development will be equipped with an effective traffic management, monitoring, control and statistics system, with variable message signs and CCTV and automatic incident detection, monitored by a dedicated and centralised system for control and data acquisition. The project’s structures have been designed as per the European standards and design codes.

Three open-trench tunnels, extending a total length of 2 km, have been constructed.

With most of the major works completed, Almabani is currently pushing ahead to complete the asphalting, landscaping works, irrigation system, and traffic management system by December 31.

ADA is pressing ahead with this and other projects as the executive board of the High Commission for the Development of Riyadh (HCDR), which was established for developing Riyadh.

In March this year, the HCDR awarded Almabani the contract for the construction of a 750-m-long bridge at the intersection of Eastern Ring Road with Oruba Road.

The independent authority is responsible for the city’s planning from all aspects – economic, social, cultural, architectural and environmental – as well as for drawing up policies and procedures that help raise the living standards of citizens.

Amongst notable projects the HCDR has overseen are Historical Arriyadh, King Abdulaziz Historical Centre, Governance Palace, King Fahad Road, Salam Park, and Development of King Abdullah Road, where four phases extending more than 30 km have already been completed.

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