Maqta watchtower

For centuries, getting across the narrow crossing from Abu Dhabi island to the mainland was subject to sea tides, making it both difficult and potentially hazardous. This is why in 1975 President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan made it a priority to build a bridge over the crossing: Maqta Bridge.

The old watchtower is still in place, as it was all those decades ago. Although it no longer guards the approaches to Abu Dhabi, it is a welcome reminder of how far the UAE has come in a very short space of time.

Maqta bridge still exists (this blip is taken from underneath), but the increase in volume of traffic required the bridge to be expanded; further growth in traffic volume required a new bridge, to which the iconic Sheikh Zayed Bridge (in the background) by Zaha Hadid was completed a couple of years ago (view from the other side)