Highlights of the design and construction of a 12 km elevated APM bridge project in Saudi Arabia

The automated people mover (APM) bridge project constructed at Princess Nora University (PNU) in Saudi Arabia and inaugurated in May 2012 is a major project with many challenges in design and construction due to its strict time-frame compared with the big scale of the project. Therefore, the design had to be such that it ensured simplicity, time-savings, lowest costs, aesthetics and the high quality required for bridge project elements. For aesthetic reasons, a box section was chosen for all the APM bridge sections for the bridge project, including straight, bifurcation and curved parts. This paper highlights the efficiency of the precast concrete techniques used in the design and construction of big projects such as this elevated APM bridge project at PNU in Saudi Arabia.