Abdulaziz Ghazawi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The new Jeddah-Makkah Highway, which runs from the Briman Bridge all the way to Makkah’s Al-Hijrah and Madinah Road intersection would be opened for traffic soon.



Though the opening date was not announced, Minister of Transport Jabara Al-Seraisry said during a visit Thursday to the sites of Al-Haramain Train station and the two suspended bridges that “the highway would be opened soon.”



About 15 km of the road has been completed and opened to the public, Al-Seraisry added. He noted that work on the new road from King Abdulaziz International Airport to Makkah would begin soon.



“These two projects (Al-Haramain Train and the new highway) should reduce the congestion on Al-Haramain Expressway and the old Jeddah-Makkah highway.”



The government has allocated billions of riyals to vital road projects, he said.



The Kingdom has a large network of roads covering 60,000 km. There are plans to improve some of these roads with efficient planning all over the Kingdom.