Royal Haskoning wins Dubai bridge design contest

The engineers from dutch Royal Haskoning have won the design competition for a 450m bridge in Dubai. Nakheel, the developer, wants them to create a motorway bridge to connect Jebel Ali (Dubai’s largest Palm Island) to the mainland.

Two 135m high pylons and 72 stay cables will support the eight lane bridge, that will also have pavements for pedestrians and cyclists. The bridge will be 50m wide and will have a free span of 225m.

Royal Haskoning had also recently won a competition for a “wheel building” also in Dubai.

The architectural design of this bridge is characterized by the clear and daring separation between the pylons and the bridge deck. Despite its massive size the deck appears to hover in space, elegantly floating in its web of cables. Thanks to its fully free standing location, the bridge can be admired from all sides, it will serve as an icon for Palm Jebel Ali, like its famous peers around the world such as the Brooklyn bridge, the Golden Gate bridge and the Firth of Forth bridge