6th October Bridge


The 6th October Bridge is an elevated highway in central Cairo, Egypt. The bridge and causeway crosses the Nile twice from the west bank suburbs, east through Gezira Island to Downtown Cairo, and on to connect the city to the Cairo International Airport to the east.
Its name commemorates the date of 'The Crossing', which commenced the outbreak day of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

History

The bridge and causeway were completed in 1996, with construction taking nearly 30 years. It began in 1969 with the modest, -long Phase 1, which only spanned the smaller west branch of the Nile from Gezira to Agouza. Phase 9 completed the -long final length in 2005. The '6th October Bridge and Flyover' runs from the Agricultural Museum in Dokki east to the Autostrade in Nasr City.
The building of the 6th October Bridge and causeway has been declared a national infrastructure project.

Public use

The 6th October Bridge has been called the 'spinal cord' of Cairo, with approximately half a million Cairene people using it on a daily basis. Due to its role as Cairo's central East–West automobile and truck route, the bridge and causeway is nearly always crowded with traffic, with the trip from one end to another taking up to 45 minutes.

Egyptian Revolution of 2011

During the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the bridge had been a major route to the Tahrir Square democracy demonstrations, and also itself been the scene of violent confrontations between pro-Mubarak protesters and anti-Mubarak protesters.

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