Case Study: Geotechnical Studies for Qatar Roadways

The State of Qatar is having a construction boom since the early 2000's and the pace of construction has even increased in the early 2010's after Federation International of Football Association (FIFA) awarded Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. The preparation for 2022 World Cup and the Qatari governments' plan to upgrade the infrastructure in the country included major transportation projects in the State of Qatar and particularly in the city of Doha and its vicinities. The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning (MMUP) of Qatar is heavily involved in planning the transportation roadway projects and introducing the concept designs for the implementation agencies in Qatar. MMUP has divided the Doha city and other areas in the State of Qatar into different projects (packages) to cover some of the concerned areas of roadway network system with most of these packages are in the greater Doha area. Packages 1 through 27 were awarded to different consultants to study and introduce concept designs for the roadway network in the City of Doha and other areas in Qatar as part of MMUP's master plan for transportation and infrastructure. In some projects, the geotechnical aspect of had a significant impact on the outcome of some these studies. This impact was related to the efficient design, construction and optimum solution for transportation problems. The studies included geotechnical investigations for roadways and infrastructures, soil and rock testing , subgrade evaluation, groundwater measurements and studies, and geophysical surveying to deduct any karst formations or cavities. All the geotechnical data used in these studies are being included in a national geotechnical database for the State of Qatar. The database will include any geotechnical data available in the entire country particularly in Doha, including Qatar Rail (QR) data for rail lines and metro stations. gINT software is being used to build the database and import it into to a Geographic Information System (GIS) friendly model.