Safeway Bridge
7th Circle

Amman's 7th Circle —
Upgraded for Generations

The Safeway Bridge and grade-separated interchange at Amman's 7th Circle is one of the capital's most significant urban road infrastructure projects. The 7th Circle is a major node in Amman's western road network — a junction through which vast volumes of daily traffic flow between Amman's western residential areas, the commercial districts of Shmeisani and Sweifieh, and the arterial roads leading to the Ring Road and national highway network.

CEC was engaged as main contractor for the construction of the Safeway Bridge and the associated grade-separated intersection works — a project that required building a complex multi-level road structure in the heart of one of Amman's busiest traffic corridors, while maintaining vehicular movement through the junction throughout the construction period.

The project stands as one of CEC's most technically demanding urban infrastructure deliveries — combining complex reinforced concrete bridge engineering with the programme management discipline required to construct in a live traffic environment at one of Amman's most critical junctions without causing the kind of traffic disruption that would be politically and commercially unacceptable.

Engineering Complexity of an Urban Interchange

Grade-separated interchanges in dense urban environments are among the most complex civil engineering undertakings in the road infrastructure sector. Unlike rural bridge construction — where a crossing can be built at its own pace in an open environment — urban interchanges must be designed and built around the existing city. At Amman's 7th Circle, this meant:

• Multiple traffic movements to resolve simultaneously: A grade-separated interchange at a major roundabout junction requires the engineering of multiple crossing movements — straight-through, turning, and merging traffic — all elevated or separated to eliminate conflict points. The structural geometry required to achieve this in a constrained urban site is substantially more complex than a simple span crossing.
• Foundation engineering in urban ground: Foundation design at the 7th Circle required careful investigation of existing utility infrastructure — water mains, sewers, electrical cables, telecommunications — and design of pier foundations that avoided conflicts with this existing below-ground network.
• Staged construction sequence: The construction was meticulously phased to maintain vehicular access through the 7th Circle junction at all times. Each stage of the construction programme was designed around a traffic management plan approved by Greater Amman Municipality, with temporary diversions, lane closures, and work phasing planned months in advance.
• Reinforced concrete in a live traffic environment: Concrete pours for major structural elements — piers, pile caps, deck sections — had to be scheduled to avoid the most congested traffic periods, with night-time working for the most disruptive operations.

Structural System

The Safeway Bridge was designed as a reinforced concrete structure — the structural system best suited to Jordan's climate, maintenance economics, and available construction expertise. The bridge incorporates reinforced concrete columns and pile caps, a concrete deck structure providing the elevated road surface, expansion joints and bearings to accommodate temperature movement, a bridge drainage system directing surface water away from the structural elements, and vehicle restraint barriers to protect road users from errant vehicle incidents.

Outcome

The completed Safeway Bridge and interchange serves as a daily infrastructure asset for hundreds of thousands of Amman residents — improving journey time reliability, eliminating dangerous conflict points that existed at the previous at-grade junction, and providing a grade-separated road crossing designed to serve the capital for 75+ years without major structural intervention.