In this day and age, where everything has been seemingly explored, it isn’t often you get a new road where none had ever existed. And the new Al Ashkharah-Shannah road is even more remarkable in that it is built over sand, salt flats called sabkha and sometimes plain old rock that needs to be blasted through. Road crews had to weather sandstorms for three months of the year, which sometimes forced them to work at night.
At the end of the first phase, the Bedouin fishermen of the Sharqiya finally have their road, and the rest of us onlookers have our gateway to a pristine desert coastline. Somewhere in between hangs a delicate ecosystem. And while highways can signal change, we hope this one will let you experience the charm of the desert woodlands, and the Bedouin way of life. The best part of this road, you will discover, might be turning off it.

Mohana Prabhakar
Managing Editor