6th October Bridge

The 6th October Bridge, with Gezira Island in foreground, the Nile River, and Downtown Cairo in background.

The 6th October Bridge, ramps, and Nile; with Downtown Cairo and Egyptian Museum (on left), in view north from Hilton tower.

The 6th October Bridge (Arabic: جسر 6 أكتوبر‎, Kubri 6 uktubar) is an elevated highway in central Cairo, Egypt. The 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi) bridge and causeway crosses the Nile River twice from the west bank suburbs, east through Gezira Island to Downtown Cairo, and on to connect the city to the Cairo International Airport to the east.

Its name commemorates the date of 'The Crossing' which commenced the outbreak day of the October War in 1973.

History

The bridge and causeway were completed in 1996, with construction taking nearly 30 years. It began in 1969 with the modest, 130 metres (430 ft)-long Phase 1, which only spanned the smaller west branch of the Nile from Gezira to Agouza (built from May 1969 to August 1972). Phase 9 completed the 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi)-long final length in 1996. The '6th October Bridge and Flyover' runs from the Agricultural Museum in Dokki east to the Autostrade in Nasr City.

The building of the 6th October Bridge and causeway has been declared a national infrastructure project.

Public use

The 6 October Bridge has been called the 'spinal cord' of Cairo, with approximately half a million Cairene people using it on a daily basis.^[1] Due to its role as Cairo's central east—west automobile and truck route, the bridge and causeway is nearly always crowded with traffic, with the trip from one end to another taking up to 45 minutes.

2011 Egyptian protests

Al Jazeera video of the democracy demonstration clashes at 6th October Bridge and ramps (on 28 January 2011).

During the 2011 Egyptian protests, the bridge has been a major route to the Tahrir Square democracy demonstrations, and also itself been the scene of violent confrontations between pro-Mubarak protesters and anti-Mubarak protesters.^[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 6 October Bridge

• Al-Ahram Weekly | "The final bridge" - history
• Structurae [en]: 6th of October Bridge (1996)
• ACE Consulting Engineers Moharram.Bakhoum - bridge designers

Coordinates: 30°2′57″N 31°13′43″E / 30.04917°N 31.22861°E / 30.04917; 31.22861

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