Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has invited companies to bid by 7 January for a contract to upgrade an interchange in the Dubai Marina area on Sheikh Zayed road to provide access to the new Bluewaters development.

The main component of the 900-day project involves building a 1.4 kilometre-long 25 metre-wide flyover, that will take road traffic from Sheikh Zayed road onto the Bluewaters Island. The bridge will also take a new rail link onto the island from its terminal station on Sheikh Zayed road opposite the existing Nakheel Harbour and Tower station. The other parts of the project include building ramps onto the bridge and service roads.

The consultant is US-based Parsons International. The RTA is responsible for the delivery and management of the project. Local developer Meraas will provide the funding.

Meraas is the developer of the Bluewaters Island scheme. It is located next to the Jumeirah Beach Residences. The scheme includes the AED1bn ($272m) Dubai Eye, which will be the world’s largest ferris wheel. Other components of the project involve building retail, residential, hospitality and entertainment zones.

South Korea’s Hyundai Contracting and the Netherlands-based Starneth Engineering have been appointed as the design-and-build (DAB) contractors for the 210-metre-tall ferris wheel. Mace is the project manager.