Abu Dhabi has launched a seven-month plan to rejuvenate Al Maqta Bridge, an icon of the 1960s.
The city's municipality on Wednesday said the work involves laying new asphalt, overhauling the pedestrian crossings and repainting the distinctive blue structure.
The restoration work is expected to be finished by October and authorities said motorists can expect changes to traffic flow.
Al Maqta Bridge was built in 1968 and was the first to connect the Abu Dhabi island to the mainland.
It was built over a causeway that was, until then, the only way to get off the island. People had to wait until low tide to cross.
But more and more people were arriving into the emirate after the discovery of oil in 1958 and this required a modern bridge to improve the flow of people and cars.
When it was built, the bridge was only a single elegant arch but it was later expanded to a dual crossing.
Austrian engineers Wagner Biro, built the bridge and it was also behind Dubai’s Al Maktoum Bridge, the first across the Creek.
More bridges were added in Abu Dhabi. The Mussaffah Bridge was built in the 1970s, with the Sheikh Zayed Bridge following in 2010.
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Results for Stage 2
Stage 2 Yas Island to Abu Dhabi, 184 km, Road race
Overall leader: Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)
Stage winners: 1. Fernando Gaviria COL (UAE Team Emirates) 2. Elia Viviani ITA (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) 3. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal)
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