Doha Expressway – Qatar

Qatar has committed to an aggressive expansion effort to support the Qatar National Vision 2030, which included preparing to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. To support this extraordinary, planned growth, Ashghal embarked on a major program to expand and upgrade the roads and infrastructure networks across the country. The expressway program is an effort to effectively reconstruct Doha’s major road network through several projects planned for concurrent construction. The projects were divided into nine groups, and awarded to various consultants. Ashghal awarded the concept design review, preliminary and detailed design, tender documentation, and construction management services to Parsons.

After we successfully completed an initial concept study in 2003 for 50 km (31 mi) of expressways that included 19 grade-separated interchanges, PWA expanded our scope in 2004 to 90 km (56 miles) with 39 interchanges to serve future development and population growth. Working with the PWA, we considered many factors in developing the final alignment for the upgraded expressway, including but not limited to cost, traffic flow, existing right-of-way, land acquisition, utility relocation, and overall plans for the future transportation network. The function and final alignment of the new expressways meet the basic existing and future needs for the Greater Doha area by providing:

• Virtually continuous and uninterrupted traffic flow from Mesaieed to Al Shamal through the Greater Doha area
• Fast and convenient access from the new Doha International Airport on Ras Abu Abboud to Greater Doha and beyond
• Links to other primary roads and convenient access to secondary road network
• Ability to handle high traffic volumes for relatively long, uninterrupted distances at high speeds with controlled access at designated interchanges
• Sufficient capacity for the citizens and residents of Qatar as well as tourists visiting Qatar for events such as world sports championships

Using Collaboration To Deliver Excellence

The main challenge on this project was integrating the new expressway within an established and growing city. Because the project primarily involved upgrading existing urban arterials, we worked collaboratively with the client and other stakeholders to develop safe and efficient facilities while minimizing negative impacts on surrounding communities. To ensure that the road improvements were optimally integrated with other major developments, we worked closely with many major stakeholders (e.g. Qatar Rail, Msheireb Properties, Private Engineering Office (PEO) and Hamad Medical Corporation).

We resolved challenging design issues to develop the highest capacity interchange configurations within the existing constraints, e.g. narrow Right of Way (ROW). The new safe, efficient and modern expressway saves motorists travel time and, in turn, reduces air pollution. Our innovative interchange configurations and overall approach to complex technical issues earned us a prestigious International Road Federation (IRF) Global Road Achievement Award (GRAA) in the design category.

Excellence In Innovation

Innovation is one of our core values, and we demonstrated this by introducing a number of innovations on this project. The one that delivered the most benefits was the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM). The client wanted us to develop a detailed and combined utility model that contained all dry and wet utilities, and other design elements (e.g. structural, architectural, traffic, landscape). Using BIM enabled us to create clash-free designs, enabling easier and faster construction. We also integrated BIM with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce a rich geodatabase that will help Doha fulfill its ‘smart city’ ambitions.

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