Abu Dhabi completes region’s longest traffic tunnel

Abu Dhabi has completed the region’s longest traffic tunnel that stretches more than three km and the project will be tested before it is officially launched within the next few days, the semi official daily Alittihad said on Sunday.

Work on the project, which cost more than Dh5 billion, began nearly five years ago as one of the largest road construction ventures ever to be carried out in the UAE.

The tunnel had been due to be completed at the end of 2010 but was delayed because of technical and topographical snags, according to the Abu Dhabi Municipality which is carrying out the project on the capital’s eastern flank.

South Korea’s Samsung Construction is carrying out the project, which will also link the mainland to the nearby Reem Island, where at least
100,000 inhabitants will live. The causeway to the island has already been completed.

More than 2,000 workers were involved in the construction of the 3.5 km tunnel, which starts from the eastern entrance of Abu Dhabi city and runs under Alsalam street towards Port Zayed on the western tip of the capital.

Around two km of the tunnel would be embedded nearly 15 metres underground while the rest would be open and near the surface level.

Officials said the tunnel is part of a long-term blueprint by Abu Dhabi to expand its inhabited areas and road networks to cope with a sharp rise in the population, which officials expect to nearly triple in the next 20 years.

A municipality statement said the road could have a capacity of 12,000 moving cars per hour in both directions once it becomes fully operational.

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