--- description: And not for the first time title: Saudi Arabia and Egypt Want to Build Bridge Over Red Sea image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b5ea4915104c781/69888e4b0b72e3dc486e8e01/gettyimages-519602606.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Saudi Arabia](/tag/saudi-arabia/) ## Saudi Arabia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Saudi Arabia and Egypt Want to Build a Bridge Over the Red Sea  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 8, 2016 3:00 PM CUT  President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) welcomes King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (L) at the Egyptian Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on April 7, 2016\. (Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu Agency--Getty Images) President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) welcomes King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia (L) at the Egyptian Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt on April 7, 2016\. (Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu Agency--Getty Images)Anadolu Agency—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Apr 8, 2016 3:00 PM CUT King Salman of Saudi Arabia announced Friday that a bridge will be built linking Saudi Arabia to Egypt to boost commerce between the allied nations. The King made the announcement during the second day of a five-day visit to Egypt, where he is expected to announce more trade agreements. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said the bridge will be named after King Salman, according to the [BBC. ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35999557 "undefined") There have been several other proposals for a bridge linking the Arab states, but none have come to fruition. The [most recent proposal, for a 20-mile bridge in 2011,](http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/crossing-the-red-sea-egypt-approves-massive-bridge-to-saudi-arabia-a-775020.html "undefined") was expected to cost roughly $5 billion, which planners said would be easily offset by the tolls paid by pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia’s holy sites. No cost or distance estimates have yet been released for the current plan. “This historic step to connect the two continents, Africa and Asia, is a qualitative transformation that will increase trade between the two continents to unprecedented levels,” the King said in a statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4286571/saudi-arabia-egypt-bridge-red-sea/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4286571/saudi-arabia-egypt-bridge-red-sea/"},"headline":"Saudi Arabia and Egypt Want to Build a Bridge Over the Red Sea","datePublished":"2016-04-08T15:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:34:54.283Z","description":"And not for the first time","url":"https://time.com/4286571/saudi-arabia-egypt-bridge-red-sea/","keywords":["Saudi Arabia","Egypt","Bridge"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b5ea4915104c781/69888e4b0b72e3dc486e8e01/gettyimages-519602606.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6b5ea4915104c781/69888e4b0b72e3dc486e8e01/gettyimages-519602606.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi","caption":"Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - Abdel Fatteh el-Sisi","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/saudi-arabia/","name":"Saudi Arabia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4286571/saudi-arabia-egypt-bridge-red-sea/","name":"Saudi Arabia and Egypt Want to Build a Bridge Over the Red Sea"}}]}] ```