They're dug deep enough to avoid hitting the utilities. They cost more, but now Egypt is starting to build them. In the past, when 6 October began, we could only afford to build bridges to solve our traffic problems. Now a lot of people are saying they don't like the way bridges look in the city. Perhaps that's why 6 October is beginning to feel like a swan song, the last big inner city bridge of our time.
Nobody opens a shop downtown anymore.
It's all in the suburbs like Mohandessin and Nasr City. Downtown, meanwhile, where it crosses the Nile, the bridge has always been a prime photo spot for couples getting married, with the TV Building looking like a gigantic wedding cake in the background. And the bridge really is quite beautiful at night, especially when there's no traffic. The way the lights curve up and around towards the blue and yellow patterns on the Ramses Bus Station, and then like a slithering snake through the tall buildings downtown. Now, there is also a stunning suspension element to 6 October, one already captured in a video clip by Ihab Tawfik, who was being interviewed for TV on that very same suspension span a couple of weeks ago.