History

The Manama-Sitra Causeway carries the Majlis Al-Ta'wan Highway which links Umm Al-Hassam (in the southern part of Manama) with the northern end of Sitra Island. The causeway includes two bridges, located at the northern and southern ends of the causeway, which allow the passage of marine traffic and the flow of coastal tidal water. These bridges are the Manama-Sitra Causeway Bridges. Sitra North Bride is generally referred to as the North or No. 1 Bridge and Sitra South Bridge is generally referred to as the South or No. 2 Bridge.

The bridges were designed in the early 1970s, constructed in the mid 1970s and opened to traffic in 1976. They have identical structural details throughout, the North (No. 1) Bridge comprising 18 spans and the South (No. 2) Bridge comprising 48 spans. The two carriageways of the highway are each carried on separate parallel decks with a services bridge located between them. The supporting piers are common to both decks and the services bridge. Each deck span is 10.45m wide overall, comprising a 7.3m wide dual carriageway and, on the outer and inner sides repsetively, a 2.15m wide footway and a 1m wide central cantilever.

From Sitra Bridge Study, Final Report February 1998, DHV International (UK) Ltd.