Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday opened a suspension bridge over the Nile touted as the world’s widest, one of a series of military-led, mega-projects designed to improve infrastructure and provide jobs.
At its widest, the Rod al-Farag Axis bridge has six traffic lanes in each direction and measures 67.3 metres (222 feet) across. A regional director for the Guinness Book of World Records present at Wednesday’s opening said that makes it the world’s widest suspension bridge.
The bridge, which crosses the Nile just north of central Cairo, is a key link in a highway stretching from the Red Sea in the east to Egypt’s northwestern Mediterranean coast and is meant to help reduce congestion in the capital.
Traffic ground to a halt in parts of central Cairo on Wednesday morning as Sisi traveled to open the bridge with ministers and military generals.
Around one million cubic metres of concrete as well as 1,400 km (2,268 miles) of steel wire for 160 suspension cables were used in its construction, according to a presentation given at the formal opening.
The bridge crosses the Nile’s Warraq Island, which has an estimated 100,000 residents, some of whom have protested against planned demolitions on the island and plans to develop it into a “modern residential community”.
President al Sisi also inaugurated the Tahya Misr Eastern Bridge, which is considered the world’s longest flyover bridge and has been carried out in full by 100 percent Egyptian companies.
