Lusail Expressway has won the Engineering News Record (ENR) award for 2018 Global Best Project in the Roads / Highway category.
The projects that have won the award are considered examples of innovation, safety performance, challenges overcome when designing and building the project and meeting the construction quality with a special emphasis on the diversity of global project teams and their collaboration. The judges also considered how the project benefits to the local community.
A panel of industry experts specialized in evaluating roads projects has selected the winners of ENR’s 6th annual Global Best Projects competition, out of 23 projects from 14 countries.
Eng. Youssef Al Emadi, Manager of the Highway Department received the award in a ceremony held in New York City. In attendance was a wide range of international organisations and companies that represent winning projects in other categories, including construction projects of metros, bridges and tunnels from countries and cities including Hong Kong, the United Kingdom - London, Brazil -Sao Paulo, Australia - Sydney, Canada -Toronto and the United States - San Francisco and Washington.
In this occasion, Eng. Youssef Al Emadi said: “I want to dedicate this achievement to our government, led by H.H. the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, H.H. the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and H.E. the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani. I also want to thank them for their continuous support and directives that led us to win such a reputable global award.”
ENR is an international organisation based in New York and specialised in evaluating engineering projects worldwide, whether in the design or the construction stage. Its judges come from different countries including USA, Europe and Asia, and it is also responsible for categorizing and identifying the levels of consultants and contractors globally.
The Lusail Expressway project is marked by the 5/6 Interchange, which has the highest landmark in Qatar, 100 meters high arches. The arches consist of 54 large steel pieces, which created a great engineering challenge starting with the design of the unique intertwined and tilted arches that needed extreme accuracy to be installed correctly, to the great size of the arches and their leaning angle.
The architectural character of the project is inspired by the ancient Qatari heritage and embodies a combination of Qatar's past and future, given that Lusail is the main expressway that runs along the waterfront that stretches to the north of Doha.
Lusail Expressway is one of the most important projects implemented by the Public Works Authority's Expressway programme. It is located in a vital area linking Doha to Lusail City and includes many destinations from the Pearl in the north to Katara and the Diplomatic Area, and a large number of residential neighborhoods, commercial and business facilities.
The project extends 5.5 kilometers and includes three major intersections: the Pearl Intersection, Onaiza Intersection and the 5/6 Intersection, as well as two marine bridges on the southern and northern canals near the Pearl and Lusail City.
The design focuses on enhancing pedestrian safety and promoting a healthy lifestyle through the creation of 6.5 kilometre long separate pedestrian and bicycle paths each. Lusail Expressway reduced the travel time between West Bay and the Pearl by 65%.