Batinah Expressway full stretch opens on May 7
Close on the heels of the opening of Muscat International Airport, another major infrastructure project in the Sultanate is nearing competition — Batinah Expressway.
The entire stretch of the expressway will be opened for traffic from May 7, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Top ministry officials, including the Minister of Transport and Communications, reviewed the progress of work, which is in final stages.
The project involves the construction of a 265-km expressway which begins from the start of the Muscat Expressway and travels all the way up to the OMAN-UAE border of Khatmat Malaha.
The project was planned to be implemented in two phases with three sections and 11 packages.
The first six were main packages and the remaining five the interchanges.
The first and second section of the carriageway together accounted for a total length of 180 km (packages I, II, III, IV), while the third section covers a total length of 85 km (packages V & VI). The project includes a four-lane roadway stretching from the end of Muscat Expressway near Halban intersection to Khatmat Malaha in Shinas.
The project, including four 3.75-metre wide lanes on each side, a 12-m wide traffic island, 3-m external asphalt shoulders, 2-m internal asphalt shoulders, 31 wadi crossing bridges and 23 intersections.
The project also includes 25 wadi crossing bridges and box culverts of various sizes, truck weighing stations and parking provisions for ambulances and the Royal Oman Police (ROP) vehicles.
Package 1 includes a 45.5-km stretch from Halban intersection in Barka to Khubat Al Qadan.
Package 2 includes a 44.75-km stretch starts from Khubat Al Qadan to Wadi Al Haimli in Al Suwaiq.
Package 3 includes a 46.2-km stretch from Wadi Al Haimli in Al Suwaiq to Hafeet in Saham.
Package 4 includes a 43.5-km stretch start from Hafeet in Saham to Suhar.
Package 5 includes a 41-km stretch from Suhar to Liwa, while Package 6 includes a 45-km stretch from Liwa to Shinas.
Apart from improving the crucial road connectivity between Oman and neighbouring countries, Batinah Expressway is also important to ease congestion on the current road following the relocation of all commercial seaport opening activities to Muscat.