The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ recently broke two Guinness World Record titles for Qatar – the Longest Continuous Cycle Path and the Longest Piece of Asphalt Concrete Laid Continuously.
Official Adjudicator at Guinness World Records Danny Hickson announced the measurement of the Longest Piece of Asphalt Concrete Laid Continuously to be 25. 275 km, and the final figure for the Longest Continuous Cycle Path at 32.869 km, setting new world records for the State of Qatar.
Engineer Yousef Al Emadi, Director of Projects Affairs at Ashghal, stated that achieving these world records confirms Ashghal’s commitment to implementing and managing projects efficiently and on par with the highest international quality standards.
According to Engineer Al Emadi, the new achievement was gained because of cooperation between their various departments, and through coordination with many government entities. The Al Khor Road project was also completed in record time and opened to the public ahead of schedule.
Engineer Bader Darwish, Manager of Highway Projects Department at Ashghal, said the pace of work on the project was accelerated to be completed and opened to the public at the earliest. He said that the 65 km-long stretch was paved within 27 days, including ten continuous non-stop working days, which resulted in the Guinness Record.
Olympic Cycling Track
The Olympic Cycling Track, was part of Ashghal’s plan for a connected and safe network of cycling paths, which hopefully, would contribute to lifestyle changes. Around 2,650 km of pedestrian and cycle paths are scheduled to be completed in Qatar by 2022.
The Olympic Cycling Track was designed to be completely separate from road traffic, allowing cyclists to speed up to 50 km per hour. Twenty-nine underpasses and five bridges are also included in the cyclist paths to facilitate non-stop riding.
The Olympic Cycling Track extends along Al Khor Road – 33 km in length and seven metres wide – and can be used for international sports competitions.
The design of bridges, underpasses and the Olympic Cycling Track are on par with international specifications and standards, and the works were completed with maximum pace and minimum cost. The other side of Al Khor Road includes shared paths for pedestrians and bicycles. Eighty bicycle stands, as well as 100 benches and 20 rest areas are also provided.
The Asphalt International Roughness Index (IRI) for Al Khor Road has a value of less than 0.9 and the quality of implementation of all asphalt layers was strictly monitored to ensure high quality of execution.
HE Jassim Rashid Al Buenain, Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, praised Ashghal for their efforts to establish a connected and safe network for cyclists in Qatar.
Abdulrahman Musallam Al Dossari, Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Sports and President of Qatar Sports Federation for All, referred to the importance of implementing an infrastructure that serves sports activities, and praised the Olympic Cycling Track and how it is completely separate from traffic movement, making it safer for cyclists. He said that Qatar Sports Federation for All will utilise the infrastructure by holding activities and competitions on the Olympic Cycling Track.
Ashghal has provided five car parking areas stretching along the path near Qatar University, Lusail Station, Lusail International Circuit, Semaisma Interchange and Al Bayt Stadium. Ashghal also installed 1,450 lighting poles to encourage cycling at night.
The Olympic Cycling Track was opened this year during the celebration of the country’s National Sports Day on 11 February 2020.
Longest Piece of Asphalt Concrete Laid Continuously
The asphalt pavement works of Al Khor Road were carried out in 27 days, during which 1.8 million square metres of asphalt were poured along 65 km. In order to complete the Al Khor Road project and open it to traffic at the earliest, three asphalt plants operated throughout the day without break, with a production capacity of 800 tonnes per hour. In addition, three asphalt pavers were used to cover all tracks and to ensure non-stop work.
The project team has organised the work in such a way that the asphalt layer is started in one part and the next part is prepared in parallel so that work does not stop. The preparatory works included middle layer paving works, asphalt production and mixing, cement barriers work, among others.
The piece of asphalt that broke the Guinness World Records title is about 25 km long and 28 meters wide, paved without any joints, poured with over 91,000 tonnes of asphalt continuously over a period of 242 hours non-stop (more than 10 days), covering at least 700,000 sqm of asphalt.
During execution of works, performance and quality were monitored to ensure that implementation is in accordance with international standards.
Al Khor Road Project
Al Khor Road is one of the major highways in Qatar. It connects northeast of Qatar with capital city Doha. The 33 km-long expressway consists of 10 interchanges, five lane dual carriageway and a vehicular capacity of 20,000 vehicles per hour in both directions. Al Khor Road serves more than 20 residential areas and many vital and economic facilities as well as two major World Cup 2022 stadiums, namely Al Bayt Stadium and Lusail Stadium.