The Amazing KF Causeway...

One of the places I visited during my vacation in khobar was the King Fahd Causeway. I was just amazed at how it was built and when. Na amazed lang ako sa sobrang kahabaan ng bridge sa kalagitnaan ng karagatan (25kms long). Lolz.

And so I did my research at wikipedia and I found this brief description FYI;

The King Fahd Causeway is multiple dike-bridge combination connecting Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and the island of Bahrain.

A construction agreement signed on July 8, 1981 led to construction beginning the next year. The cornerstone was laid on November 11, 1982 by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa of Bahrain and went until 1986, when the combination of several bridges and dams was completed. The causeway officially opened for use on November 25, 1986.

The project, completely financed by Saudi Arabian money, cost a total of US$ 1.2 billion and was contracted out to the Ballast Nedam Group based in the Netherlands. The four-lane road (2x12.3 metres (40 ft)) is 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) long. Five bridges with an overall length of 12,430 metres (40,781 ft) were built using 350,000 cubic metres (460,000 yd³) of concrete along with 147,000 metric tons of reinforced steel.

The causeway consists of three parts, a combination of three bridges from Khobar to the artificial island on the Saudi Arabia - Bahrain border, including the longest bridge, at 5,194 metres (17,041 ft) long, a bridge from the artificial island to Umm al-Na’san Island and another bridge from Umm al-Na’san island to the main island of Bahrain.

Dra. Allen on our way to the causeway even called the KFC as one of the landmarks of SA and one legacy KF has left to the people of Saudi Arabia with historical significance. I would certainly agree to that, thank you very much!

The next time I’d visit Khobar, KF would probably be at the top of my lists of places to visit.