From Qatar to Bahrain, the longest bridge in the world will be built

Paris - The Emirate of Qatar and the island kingdom of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf will be connected by a bridge by 2013, which will be the longest in the world at 40 kilometers. This was announced today in Paris by the French group Vinci, which is at the head of the international consortium that will build the bridge. The contract was signed on Tuesday in the Bahraini capital, Manama. The costs are expected to reach three billion dollars (about 50 billion crowns).
Work will begin after nine months of studies and is budgeted for 51 months, Vinci stated. Between 5,000 to 6,000 workers will participate in the project.
The bridge will be supported by 500 pylons embedded in the sea, which has a depth of only about ten meters in those areas. A highway with two lanes in each direction will run across it. Consequently, the travel time between the two states will be reduced from the current five hours to half an hour. Currently, the only possible land connection is a detour through Saudi Arabia, from where the bridge to Bahrain already leads. It is 25 kilometers long.
It is expected that initially about 5,000 vehicles will use the new bridge, later increasing to 12,000 vehicles per day. Compared to Western European standards, this is not a lot. However, both countries attach significance to the bridge as a symbol of mutual reconciliation after the relatively recent resolution of a protracted dispute over a group of islands and reefs rich in oil and natural gas.
Vinci expects that the construction will further strengthen its positions in the Persian Gulf area. The business newspaper Les Echos mentioned a potential figure of ten billion dollars for the company, of which three to four billion are reportedly already secured.
The currently longest bridge in the world spans Lake Pontchartrain in the American state of Louisiana. It measures 38 kilometers.