The Suez Canal Bridge, also known as the Mubarak Peace Bridge or the Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, is a road bridge crossing the Suez Canal at El Qantara. The Arabic al qantara means "the bridge". It has a 70 meter clearance over the canal and was built with assistance from the Japanese government. The contractor was PentaOcean Construction. The Japanese grant, accounting for 60% of the construction cost (or 13.5 billion yen), was agreed to during the visit of President Mubarak to Japan in March 1995, as part of a larger project to develop the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt bore the remaining 40% (9 billion yen). The bridge opened in October, 2001. The bridge is 4.0 km long, which consists a 400m cable stayed main span and two 1.8km long approach bridges. The height of the two main pylons supporting the main span is 154 m each. The towers were designed in the shape of Pharaonic obelisks. The clearance under the bridge is 68 meters, which defines, therefore, the maximum height above the waterline (Suezmax) of ships that can pass through the Suez Canal.
Significant developments in the region
The Suez Canal Bridge, is part of a major drive to develop the areas surrounding the Suez Canal, such as the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel under the Suez Canal, completed in 1983, the El Ferdan Railway Bridge and the Suez Canal overhead line crossing.
