Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Arch road bridge in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Sheikh Zayed Bridge is an arch bridge by Zaha Hadid linking Abu Dhabi Island to the mainland across the Maqta Channel. It is 842 m long and 64 m high, with undulating white arches above a flat grey prestressed-concrete deck carried on slender piers and tied to the arches by thin vertical cables. It carries four lanes in each direction plus a pedestrian walkway.
The bridge was designed by Zaha Hadid and named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the UAE. It opened in November 2010 as the eastern link between Abu Dhabi Island and the mainland across the Maqta Channel, relieving congestion on the Maqta and Musaffah bridges.
The bridge is named after Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates. Its arches are shaped to resemble sand dunes, and at night a lighting system shifts through changing colours that form flowing waves along the structure.
Pedestrians and cyclists cross using dedicated pathways that run along the sides of the roadway. The full structure is easiest to view from the canal banks or nearby waterfront parks rather than while driving across.
Zaha Hadid designed the crossing with asymmetrical steel arches that rise and fall at different angles along its length. A dynamic lighting system transforms the appearance after sunset, casting shifting patterns across the concrete and steel.
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