Lusail Expressway in Qatar

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Lusail to be transformed into transportation hub of QatarHyundai E&C made inroads into the Qatari market in 1979. Since that, the builder has conducted about 20 projects including Qatar’s New Port, Hamad Medical City and National Museum of Qatar in the peninsular Arab country.The long-lasting trust between Hyundai E&C and Qatar served as a basis for the builder to obtain the Lusail Expressway project from the PublicWorks Authority of Qatar in 2012. The Lusail Expressway project involves the construction of about 5.8-kilometer expressway running from central Doha to the Pearl area, a commercial and residential district near Lusail. Although Lusail Expressway is about 5.8 kilometers in length, it is considered as a large-scale project consisting of 16 lanes, 10 tunnels, 4 bridges and Lusail Expressway Microtunnel, together with the construction of infrastructure including a water supply and sewage system, a telecommunication line and a substation. A special arch-shaped structure is also taking shape at the Wahda IC, the southern end of Lusail Expressway. The 100-meter-high huge arches will be a landmark catching travelers’ eyes on the way from Hamad International Airport to Lusail Iconic Stadium. About 80 percent of the construction has been completed. Ahead of the opening of the expressway at the end of 2017, Hyundai E&C is working on pavement and utility works.The biggest challenge for the Lusail Expressway project was not to disrupt the existing traffic flow as the residence of most of Qatari population and infrastructure are concentrated in Doha. Since the project was designed to extend and improve the existing road, the construction site had to build a temporary detour to carry the volume of traffic, which resulted in a need for additional works such as a change in the traffic signal system, the installation of safety-related facilities and an approval for road operation. Accordingly, prior to the main construction, the about 350-kilometer underground facilities related to water supply/drainage and electricity had to be moved away. What’s worse, the construction site had to discuss with 25 related organizations to obtain around 200 kinds of approvals. Consequently, all these processes increased the construction schedule from 40 months to 67 months.Another big obstacle was that since the construction site is located at the desert near the seaside, underground water was easily absorbed into the porous limestone. Throughout all the construction zones, pumps were used to pump out 10,000 liters of water per second. Arab nations’ decision to cutties with Qatar in June posed an unexpected challenge to the project. To bring in construction materials which had been supplied via Saudi Arabia and UAE, the construction site had to find new ways such as shipments from Oman or Kuwait, and procurement from local companies in Qatar.Lusail Expressway is all the more meaningful in that an intelligent transportation system (ITS) applied to Gwangju-Wonju Expressway will be introduced. Under the ITS, Lusail Expressway is expected to provide cutting-edge technologies including accident alert systems and tunnel luminance control systems.

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