INSPECTING progress in the third and last phase of its construction, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi toured the Rod Al-Farag Axis Bridge on Sunday. The bridge connects north and east Cairo to west Cairo at the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. It also connects the Red Sea coastal road to the new Galala Road that runs from Zaafarana to Ain Sokhna with the Mediterranean Sea coastal road through the Dabaa Axis. The bridge is being constructed by the Arab Contractors under the supervision of the army's Engineering Authority. It comprises six lanes of roads, in addition to two lanes for buses and an electric metro train line. The axis, parallel to the 26 July Axis, will help ease traffic jams and save 200,000 litres of fuel per day. The bridge can take up to 120 tons compared to 80 tons on average for other bridges. The project was implemented in three phases: a partial link between the Cairo Ring Road and the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road stretching 30km. This was followed by a second phase which starts at the 39th km on the Cairo-Alexandria Road and extends to the Ring Road. The third phase connects the Ring Road with Bashteel in Shobra. The axis includes the largest flyover in the world — 68 metres wide — which is expected to be included in the Guinness Book of Records.
