Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transport has invited companies to bid by 26 February for the estimated AED1bn ($272m)-plus contract to build the first section of Emirates Road in Abu Dhabi emirate.

The new section of highway will run for 33 kilometres from the Dubai border towards Abu Dhabi city. It will be dual carriageway with four lanes in each direction.

The contract involves building three new interchanges. The first will be built on the border in the Seih Sedeira area and will be grade separated. The second will be at grade and will be built in the Maha Forest area. The third interchange will be grade separated and will be built in Al-Samha area and will connect to the existing Sheikh Maktoum bin Saeed highway near to Taweelah and the new Khalifa port.

The construction work is expected to involve over 10 million cubic metres (cu m) of excavation, 10 million cu m of backfilling, 1.2 million tonnes of asphalt and about 30,000 tonnes of steel reinforcing bars (rebar).

The consultant for the project is Abu Dhabi office of Aurecon with Australia’s SMEC.

Emirates Road currently runs from the northern emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, through Umm al-Quwain, Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai before ending on the Abu Dhabi border.

The new extension will create a second road link between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This existing highway has experienced a major increase in traffic in recent years as Dubai-based companies focused on government-sponsored projects in Abu Dhabi following the collapse of the property market in 2008.

Links between Abu Dhabi and the other six emirates will be improved further by the UAE’s new rail network. Construction of phase one of the Etihad rail project started late last year. It will be used by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) to transport sulphur from the Shah gas field in the Western Region. Later phases will be for passenger services and will connect to Dubai and the northern emirates.