Sitra Causeway Bridges

Gamuda was tasked with upgrading the bridges and causeway between Manama, the capital city of Bahrain, and two of its neighbouring islands. Gamuda constructed two new bridges with a new four lane dual carriageway system covering 2.4 kilometres, designed for a service life of 120 years in harsh marine conditions.

The south bridge is 400m long, while the north bridge is 200m. Gamuda also had to put in place 2.4km of embankment structure. These worked together with grade separated interchanges at both ends to replace the existing Sitra Bridge and causeway.

Gamuda encountered several challenges whilst constructing the causeway and bridge. The old Sitra Bridge was still facilitating movements of cars and trucks until the completion of the new bridges, so construction had to take place alongside existing structures. Gamuda also had to facilitate the removal of six metre silt deposits which were not initially identified by the design consultant or shown in the construction drawings, as well as navigating the numerous utilities buried beneath the junction linking Manama into the bridges. 220kV, 66kV and 11kV electricity cables and pipelines for water, storm water, sewerage and natural gas were all found beneath the junction and previous drawings that showed their locations were often inaccurate or in some cases non-existent.

The causeway is now one of the most strategic road links in Bahrain, providing the main link between the capital and the nearby islands.