DUBAI’S Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has invited contractors to prequalify for the construction of the Al Ittihad bridge project, which will span across the Dubai Creek in the emirate.

Tenders for the construction of the 2,700-m bridge, which is designed to replace the floating bridge, are scheduled to be issued in October with work to be launched in the last quarter of this year. The main creek crossing will be a 420-m-long bridge supporting 12 lanes of traffic connecting Bur Dubai to Deira.

The bridge will extend beyond Al Riyadh Road on the Bur Dubai side, and up to the Dubai-Sharjah Road on the Deira side.

Featuring an aesthetic steel arch, the structure will be constructed using the segmental technique with a 1,400-m segmental twin box girder bridge on the Deira side. The deck will comprise approximately 50,000 sq m of segmental bridges, and 40,000 sq m of conventional cast-in-place box girders.

The works also include underpasses, ramps, interchanges, cut-and-cover tunnels, roadworks, utility relocations, bridge lighting, landscaping and land reclaiming.

The project, scheduled for opening in early 2018, is expected to be awarded in one or several contracts, with the construction period extending over three years from the day of award.

In other developments, RTA has completed the initial phase of the Jumeirah Corniche project, which extends more than 2 km starting from the Dubai Sailing Club up to a point adjacent to the Dubai Municipality’s centre at Umm Suqeim.

The entire project is now more than 70 per cent and all works are expected to be completed and the project opened in October.

The Jumeirah Corniche, which extends 14 km, stretches from the beach adjacent to six residential areas starting from behind the Dubai Marine Resort up to Burj Al Arab hotel.

The RTA has also completed the construction of nine internal roads extending a total of 193 km in length at a cost of about Dh400 million ($108.9 million) spanning areas such as Hatta, Al Quoz, Khawaneej and Barsha.

Work is ongoing on internal road projects at six residential areas, while construction of roads at Al Warqaa is expected to be completed this year.

Construction of internal roads at Muhaisnah 2, Barsha South 1, and collector roads at Barsha 2 is due for completion.

“In the last quarter of this year, the RTA will release a tender for constructing internal roads at Mamzer, Nahda 1 and Oud Mateena 2,” said Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the RTA.

Meanwhile, the RTA has approved the construction of 10 pedestrian bridges that will be built over the next two years in key areas of Dubai at a cost of about Dh40 million ($10.89 million).

“Work is up and running on the construction of seven other bridges to be completed in 2015. This will bring the overall number of pedestrian bridges by 2016 to as much as 120,” Al Tayer added.