King Fahd Causeway

The King Fahd Causeway (Arabic: جسر الملك فهد‎, Jisr al-Malik Fahd) is a series of bridges and causeways connecting Saudi Arabiaand Bahrain. The idea of constructing the causeway was based on improving the links and bonds between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Surveying of the maritime began in 1968, and construction began in 1981 and continued until 1986, when it was officially opened to the public.

The idea of building a bridge linking the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Eastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had been enticing the two kingdoms for generations. The idea was born out of King Saud's wish to nurture and further solidify the brotherly bond between the two Kingdoms, during an official visit to the State of Bahrain in 1954.

The project cost a total of US$800 million (SAR3 billion). One of the major contractors of the project was Ballast Nedam, based in the Netherlands. It is unclear how many workers were engaged in the construction of the Causeway. The four-lane road is 25 km (16 mi) long and approximately 23 m (75 ft) wide, and was built using 350,000 m³(12,000,000 cu ft) of concrete along with 47,000 metric tonnes of reinforced steel. The causeway was constructed in three segments starting from Saudi Arabia:

1. From Al-Aziziyyah, south of Khobar, to the Border Station on Passport Island
2. From the Border Station to Nasan Island in Bahrain
3. From Nasan island to the Al-Jasra, west of Manama, on the main island of Bahrain

Strict quality control regimes were established to ensure durability of the structure. In this regard, Al Hoty Stanger Ltd, the premier testing laboratory with SASO accreditation, was contracted to perform relevant civil materials testing on both sides of the causeway project.

As of 2010, it is estimated that number of vehicles using the causeway is about 25,104 daily. The total number of travelers across the causeway from both countries in the year 2010 was 19.1 million passengers, or an average of 52,450 passengers per day.