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on the road
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Widening a road can seem like a straightforward task.
However, the Bidbid-Sur Road in Oman presented significant design,
construction and follow-up challenges.
Dar recently expanded a road that connects two towns in Oman:
Bidbid, an inland town west of Muscat, and Sur, the main town of
the Sharqiya South Governorate. Although a road had already
existed, Dar's team widened it and, in several stretches, provided
bypasses to sensitive urban and natural areas.
Bypasses, interchanges and flyovers:
a look at the road section
The Bidbid-Sur Road project was divided into two sections, with
our input covering the first section (Section 1). This section was
divided into two packages: 1-A and 1-B.
Package 1-A
covers the first 40 km, starting from the town of
Bidbid. It included two major bypasses, three interchanges and a
flyover bridge.
Bypasses |
Two major bypasses were introduced:
·
The first bypass avoided a critical flood plain
and the town of Surur.
·
The second bypass circumvented the Wadi Al Uqq area,
notorious for its winding alignment and accident history.
The bypass crossed a mountain range where cut and fill
heights exceeded 100 m in some locations.
Interchanges |
Apart from expansion works on the existing
interchange, three interchanges were added:
·
Semi cloverleaf interchange with overpass bridge (at Luzugh)
·
Dumbbell interchange with underpass bridge (at Samail Prison)
·
Diamond dumbbell interchange with underpass bridge
(at Dahiyah).
Service road length |
Six-km long service roads were used to
segregate long-distance traffic from local traffic.
Flyover |
A flyover bridge was introduced to cross an area
with oil and gas pipelines. Dar constantly coordinated with the
Petroleum Development Oman and Oman Gas Company to
achieve this part of the road.