The road between Bidbid and Sur is a major transport link, connecting the capital city of Muscat to the Sharqiyah region in the north-eastern part of Oman. Upgrading this existing single carriageway to a dual highway will improve both safety and capacity.
COWI has been contracted as consultant to study, design and supervise the dualisation works on the 143 km Section II of the road, between the towns of Ibra and Sur.
The existing alignment is sinuous and relatively steep in the mountain sections, therefore, traffic often queues behind slow moving vehicles causing heavy congestion and encourages dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
Also the road passes through many small towns and settlements, creating a potential hazard for safety of the local population and commuting vehicles.
Upgrading to motorway standard
In order to upgrade this important transport link, the Government of Oman has decided to convert the existing road into a highway of motorway standard with a design speed of 120 km/h.
Works will include three sections of major realignment, four major wadi bridges, 14 grade-separated interchanges and a large number of culverts in place of the existing Irish crossings, making it an "all weather" road.
Aerial survey and mapping
To support the design of the road we have drawn on our expertise within aerial survey and mapping. A highly detailed Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was created by using a laser scanner, known as LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), mounted aboard the COWI survey aircraft. The model makes it possible to determine height with a high accuracy resolution of only a few centimetres.
In addition, orthophotos with a pixel resolution of five centimetres were taken. The orthophotos are used as a base map, in which all objects as small as ten cm can be seen.
