The 6th October Bridge ( ar, كوبري 6 أكتوبر, ) is an elevated highway in central

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. The bridge and causeway crosses the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

twice from the west bank suburbs, east through

Gezira Island Gezira is an island in the Nile, in central Cairo, Egypt. The southern portion of the island contains the Gezira district, and the northern third contains the Zamalek district. Gezira is west of downtown Cairo and Tahrir Square, connected acr ...

Downtown Cairo Downtown Cairo ( arz, وسط البلد '' "middle of town")'', has been the urban center of Cairo, Egypt, since the late 19th century, when the district was designed and built. History Downtown Cairo was designed by prestigious French archit ...

, 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 The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...

in 1973.

History

The

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

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 Agouza ( ar, العجوزة, al-ʿajuza) is a small suburb of Giza district, in Giza Governorate, on the western bank of the Nile river. It is situated between 6th October Bridge and 15th May Bridge and is north of Dokki and south of Mohandesin s ...

(built from May 1969 to August 1972). 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 Nasr City ( ar, مدينة نصر ) is a district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located to the east of the Cairo Governorate and consists mostly of condominia. It was established in the 1960s as an extension to neighboring settlement of Heliop ...

. The building of the 6th October Bridge and causeway has been declared a national infrastructure project. In April 2021,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

gave the order to expand and upgrade the bridge, as well as the roads underneath it.

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 Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cai ...

democracy demonstrations, and also itself been the scene of violent confrontations between pro-

Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...

protesters and anti-Mubarak protesters.

Gallery

File:Zad-Cairo.jpg, The 6th October Bridge, with

in foreground, the

, and

in background File:Cairo-Hilton-Skyline.jpg, The 6th October Bridge, ramps, and

; with Downtown Cairo and

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

(''on left''), in view north from Hilton tower File:6 October Bridge and Ramses Hilton at night-Cairo.JPG, 6th October Bridge at night File:Al jazeera 2011 egypt protests.ogv,

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

video of the democracy demonstration clashes at 6th October Bridge and ramps (on 28 January 2011)

References

External links

Al-Ahram Weekly , "The final bridge" - ''history''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120114151/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/428/special.htm , date=20 November 2007 * Structurae nbr>6th of October Bridge (1996)
1996 establishments in Egypt Bridges in Cairo Bridges over the Nile Downtown Cairo Gezira Island Bridges completed in 1996 Articles containing video clips