Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) plans to invite companies to submit bids for the construction of Lusail Expressway within the next two months.

The project will be carried out as one construction contract.

Ashghal together with the Urban Planning and Design Authority (UPDA) have recently finished the new design for the expressway project.

Lusail Expressway will be about 12 kilometres in length and will run from Doha to Lusail and onto the Pearl.

When finished, the part of the expressway will have up to seven lanes in each direction.

Construction work is expected to take about 36 months meaning the expressway could be operational by 2014.

The project will involve building slip roads, overpasses, underpasses and bridges.

Ashghal is also considering the possibility of using fibre optics on some of the arches on the bridge sections.

Lusail Expressway will also incorporate the Lusail light rail network when that is complete. Ashghal is carrying out the tunnelling for the light rail project.

The design of the Lusail Expressway has been altered to take into consideration the Doha Bay Crossing. While the feasibility study for the crossing has recommended a tunnel, some parts of it might now be a bridge (MEED 15:6:10).

The authorities may also build an island in Doha Bay that will be connected to West Bay by a pedestrian spur.