Casablanca: Commissioning the Mohammed VI bridge
One of the longest engineering structures in Casablanca was launched on Tuesday, March 21. Much more than a simple bridge, the structure, twice as long as the cable-stayed bridge, is in fact a future exchange hub between several modes of transport (tram, busways (BRTs), taxis, buses, and other means of transport.).
The engineering structure, located at the intersection of boulevards Mohammed VI, Al Qods, Driss El Harti, Dakhla and Amgala (Aïn Chock and Sbata districts) is located on a particularly dense axis. Boulevard Mohammed VI, crossed by several major thoroughfares and intersections, is one of the main access points to the city of Casablanca and carries heavy traffic and heavy flows of goods. According to preliminary studies, traffic can reach 6,000 vehicles / hour at the level of the intersection of Boulevard Mohammed VI/Al Harti/Al Qods and a traffic flow regime close to saturation (98% of the capacity in the morning rush hour (MRH) and 95% in the evening rush hour (ERH). The new bridge will make it possible to considerably reduce the length of the queues and consequently the passage times at the right of the intersections of the boulevards.
After the opening of traffic on the bridge, work continues under the engineering structure, in the section located between the boulevards Al Qods and Driss El Harti for the constitution of the largest interchange hub of the public transport network in its own lane, which will bring together the services of Line 3 of the tram and BW1 near bus and large taxi stops. The tram station, in an axial position, is being developed under the engineering structure, while the station of the busway adjoins, laterally, the Al Housna Mosque.
Upon the commissioning of the new tram lines (1st half of 2024) and busways (BRTs) (July 2023), this engineering structure will ensure optimal and secure connection between users of the planned modes of transport and the existing ones (tram, BRT, large taxis, and buses) by reducing the volume of vehicles using the section in surface and limiting vehicle/pedestrian conflicts. The goal is also to improve the commercial performance of trams and buses at intersections by guaranteeing them priority. The total length of the engineering structure has been optimized, standing at 1,015 m, including 620 meters for the bridge and 395 meters for its access ramps. With a total width of 16.1 meters, the structure offers 2×2 traffic lanes in each direction, separated by a central reservation. The work was carried out by the Bioui Travaux company for an amount of nearly 172 million MAD.
Aziza EL AFFAS
