Project Description

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Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) developed Saadiyat Island as a premier destination. The island is home to four major museums, world-class hotels, two golf courses, and a new urban development. Saadiyat Island is located offshore of Abu Dhabi city.

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TDIC selected Parsons to design and supervise construction of the Sheikh Khalifa Bridge. With 10 lanes (5 in each direction) and capacity for 2 future light rail lines, the bridge is one of the largest in the Middle East.

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The 1.5-km-long bridge has 22 spans and a main span of 200 m across a shipping passage, and the design chosen for the substructure main span of the bridge is an asymmetrical "V" pier. The boldness of the form combined with elegant sweeping curves creates a composition of strength that is appropriate for the bridge. Subtle architectural features on the faces of the piers and the superstructure reinforce the visual profile of the bridge and reduce the overall visual mass of the structure. Likewise, the form of the superstructure has been sculpted to create a sleek and streamlined appearance that masks the massiveness of this structure.

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The central spans were constructed using the cast-in-place balanced cantilever segmental concrete construction method. The Abu Dhabi approach was built using the incremental launching method and the Saadiyat Island approaches were a cast-in-place box section on scaffolding.

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The completed Bridge was handed-over to the Owner on 31 August 2009 prior to the Contract completion date of 02 December 2009 by implementing an accelerated program.

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