Saudi media have said the bridge between the Saudi port of Ras Humaid and Sharm el-Sheikh in Western Egypt will have no long spans, because the relatively shallow waters in the area will make it possible to set up pillars, and part of the motorway will go across the Saudi island of Tiran in the Red Sea.
The bridge, which will link Asia and Africa by a 30-minute drive, will make passenger and cargo traffic easier between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and also between Gulf nations and the northeast of the African continent.
The bridge will open a direct and easy route for the 50-70,000 Egyptian pilgrims who travel every year to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. More than one million Egyptian citizens work in Saudi Arabia as well.
The project will be inaugurated during a trip of Saudi King Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz Al Saud to the north of the country next week.
