SAUDI ARABIA

Holdups on Haramain

Commuters call for quick solution to congestion on expressway

October 27, 2017

Saudi Gazette report

WITH the expansion of economic activities and a rapidly rising population, the city of Jeddah is experiencing a persistent traffic problem. Many of the city's main roads remain congested especially during the peak commuting hours.

Experts say the number of vehicles plying the streets of Jeddah has doubled over the past couple of years.

One of the most affected roads by the growing traffic is the Haramain Expressway that cuts across the eastern part of the city, linking up with the Hijrah Road in the north and the Makkah-Jeddah Expressway in the south.

Built as a freeway between the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah bypassing city traffic, the road is currently the main passageway for people who commute between the north and south of the city. As a result, vehicles move at a snail's pace and motorists have called upon the authorities to find an immediate solution to the congestion on the highway.

The traffic congestion is mainly experienced in the morning and afternoon hours when students go to schools and universities and return home. Many students and employees fail to reach their destinations on time because of the traffic bottlenecks.

Motorists have blamed the Transport Ministry for failing to find a viable solution to end the persistent traffic jams along the Haramain Expressway. People are complaining about extremely slow traffic flow at King Abdullah Bridge and the presence of several concrete blocks on the road, which have been left behind by contractors.

Work on the King Faisal Ring Road, which was planned to reduce the traffic pressure on the Haramain has been disrupted.

Meanwhile, the director of Jeddah traffic spoke about his department’s efforts to remove the traffic jam on Haramain Expressway by intensifying the presence of traffic police officers on the road at peak hours. The director general of the Transport Department said his engineers and consultants were working around the clock to solve the traffic problem on the road.

Dr. Abdulrahim Al-Zahrani, professor of transport engineering at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, described the Haramain Expressway as one of the important arteries of Jeddah, which witnesses huge traffic most of the day and night. “For the last four years, it has been accommodating 400,000 cars. This is a huge figure and the road is incapable of holding such a big number of vehicles,” Al-Zahrani said.

He said the situation on the road would have been worse if there were no parallel roads such as Prince Majed Street.

“Many improvements have been made on Haramain like the introduction of new intersections. We need a new road to reduce the pressure on Haramain as suggested by a study conducted by the Jeddah Municipality,” he said.

“The Transport Ministry has accepted that proposal and it is now building a new road from the airbase in the south toward east and north with a total length of 7 kilometers. It will be located east of the Haramain Highway and will end in North Obhur,” Al-Zahrani told Al-Madina Arabic newspaper.

He said the new road was planned to facilitate the smooth flow of huge trucks from south Jeddah to Madinah Road and for the easy movement of pilgrims. “However we should understand that Jeddah’s population is growing rapidly and its business activities are expanding. All these factors have contributed to doubling the city's traffic in a few years. There is no solution for this problem except implementation of a public transport project as quickly as possible,” he added.

Dr. Ammar Bin Mahfouz, a resident of Sulaimaniya district, blamed the traffic department for the recurrent traffic jams on the Haramain Expressway. “The main reason for this problem is the presence of a large number of cement blocks on the roadside,” he said, adding that the contractor of the railway station project left these blocks along the road even after completion of the work two years ago.

Bin Mahfouz said the traffic department should take the initiative to remove these concrete blocks from the road to facilitate vehicle movement and remove traffic bottlenecks. “The safety and engineering sections of the traffic department must find a quick solution for the problem,” he said, while urging the traffic and transport directors to visit the place and see what can be done to solve the problem.

Brig. Sulaiman Al-Zakari, director of Jeddah Traffic, said his department set out a plan to solve the congestion on the road by intensifying traffic patrol, especially at times when employees and students return home. The department deploys extra police at King Abdullah Road, Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz (Tahliah) Road and Abdullah Al-Sulaiman Street that witness huge traffic during peak hours.

He said large trucks were not allowed to enter the road between 6 and 9 a.m., 12 noon and 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. and 3 a.m. “Drivers who violate this traffic rule will be punished. We also change the duration of traffic lights at major intersections during peak hours to clear the road quickly,” he added.

Jamaan Bin Ahmed Al-Shallash, director general of the Transport Ministry’s office in the Makkah region, said a number of engineers and consultants were working together to end the traffic problem on the Haramain Expressway.

“We are now in the process of improving exits to nearby districts. We are also expanding the Old Makkah Road, Hada Al-Sham Road and Makkah-Jeddah Expressway and building a ring road at Hada Al-Jamoom. We hope all these projects would contribute to facilitating traffic on the Haramain road, especially during the peak Haj and Umrah seasons,” Al-Shallash explained.


October 27, 2017
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