The King Fahd Causeway is a 25-kilometre bridge and road system connecting the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Opened in 1986 after four years of construction, the causeway is Bahrain’s only fixed land link to the Arabian Peninsula and one of the most strategically important pieces of infrastructure in the Gulf region.
Construction
The causeway was funded by Saudi Arabia at a cost of approximately $1.2 billion and named after King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. It comprises a series of bridges and embankments crossing the shallow waters between Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province and Bahrain, with a midpoint island that houses border control facilities for both countries.
Traffic
The King Fahd Causeway carries substantial traffic volumes, with annual crossings exceeding 20 million vehicles in peak years. Weekend and holiday traffic is particularly heavy, driven by Saudi visitors travelling to Bahrain for leisure, dining, and entertainment. Bahraini residents also commute across the causeway for employment in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
Economic Impact
The causeway is fundamental to Bahrain’s economy. Saudi visitors constitute a major source of tourism revenue, supporting Bahrain’s hospitality, retail, dining, and entertainment sectors. The causeway also enables commercial freight movement between the two countries and provides Bahraini businesses with access to the much larger Saudi market.
Bahrain’s real estate market, retail sector, and hospitality industry are all structurally dependent on Saudi visitor traffic. Disruptions to causeway traffic — as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic — have immediate and measurable impacts on Bahrain’s non-oil GDP.
Second Crossing
A second causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has been discussed for over a decade. The proposed King Hamad Causeway would include road and rail connections and is intended to increase capacity, reduce congestion, and incorporate a rail link that could connect to the broader GCC railway network. The project has progressed through feasibility and planning stages but has not yet commenced construction.
Role in Vision 2030
The King Fahd Causeway is implicitly central to the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030. The vision’s tourism, trade, and financial services objectives all depend on connectivity with Saudi Arabia — Bahrain’s largest trading partner and primary source of visitor traffic. Any expansion of the causeway or construction of a second crossing would directly enhance Bahrain’s capacity to deliver on its vision objectives.