Doha: Work on Lusail Expressway project is in full swing.
During a site visit for the media, Ashghal officials highlighted the project’s micro tunnelling and major excavation works, which are underway at Pearl and Onaiza interchanges.
Lussail Expressway project, which is expected to get complete by the third quarter of 2016, will provide a vital connection into Doha’s fast growing Lusail City Development area which is currently under construction.
It will upgrade the existing Al Istiqlal Road from south of the Al Wahda (Arch) roundabout to north of the North Channel Crossing, and Onaiza Street. The 5.3km will comprise four lanes of highway with additional lanes to provide for traffic movement between the interchanges.
The project includes three large interchanges and has key interfaces with the Pearl, Katara, Lusail City Development, and the future Sharq (Doha Bay) crossing. The Lusail Expressway will also cater for future Light Rail Transit and Metro’s Red Line North.
The expressway project also includes tunnels. “Lusail Expressway project will construct approximately 2,900 metres of tunnels of internal diametre 3,000mm for the conveyance of 132kV cabling. In addition, approximately 1,180 metres of tunnels of internal diameter 2,500mm will be constructed for drainage purposes,” said Ashghal in the statement. “The project will have provision for a Light Rail Transit tunnel measuring 1,106-metre long, 9.5-metre wide and 5.5-metre high,” it said.
Ashghal has almost completed the tunnelling works under the South Canal Crossing and tunnelling at the site of the future Onaiza Interchange is in progress.
“Key advantages of micro-tunnels include allowing construction of utilities below the levels of other existing utilities and roads, without having to employ more conventional means of conducting deep excavations and backfilling,” said Mohammed Shamya, Project Engineer, Lusail Expressway. “In addition to saving cost of excavations and temporary diversions, the system helps in reducing potential project delays. Utilities inside micro-tunnels are protected against any of the risks that surface-laid utilities face and are fully and easily accessible for monitoring and maintenance,” he said.
Lusail Expressway project is a part of Ashghal’s ‘Expressway Programme’ that includes more than 34 major projects with 240 interchanges, over 980 km of new roads and an array of underpasses, flyovers and multi-level interchanges to enable smooth traffic.
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