Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The Jeddah Mayoralty is establishing as many as 20 water taxi stations which have the capacity to accommodate 29,000 passengers per day. These sea taxi stations will connect Obhur seafront with northern and central Jeddah.

This is part of a massive public transport network, which is being implemented by the mayoralty to further ease the traffic congestion caused by the density of population and arrival of large numbers of visitors and tourists to Jeddah, the Bride of the Red Sea. Implementation of the water taxi station projects is taking place in parallel with the work of implementing an integrated public transport network that includes a number of light and express metro lines and a network of buses.

The mayoralty started implementing a massive connectivity plan to coordinate the traffic flow to and from the city of Jeddah so as to reduce traffic congestion. This is in accordance with a comprehensive transportation plan to be implemented beyond the year 2030.

It has so far implemented 40 bridges and tunnels, the most prominent of which are the Madinah Road Intersection Project in northern Jeddah; intersections on the Jeddah-Jazan Road and the Exhibition Roundabout intersection; and intersection of the city road north of Al-Rehaili and Al-Hima Security Road of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) on the eastern side of Thuwal. The projects also include linking Al-Khair Bridge to King Faisal Road in Jeddah with an intersection, and converting the first and second coastal parts of the Jeddah-Jazan Road into a highway with a length of 43.65 kilometers.

The projects also included lighting the remaining part of Madinah Road up to KAUST in Thuwal, with the road link leading to the university from the Al-Qudaymah intersection and Osfan Road with a length of 70 kilometers. The projects such as Madinah - Al-Rehaili Road intersection as well as the road that starts from Briman intersection of Makkah –Madinah Road with a length of 13 km and a double road project within King Abdulaziz Medical City with an intersection on the old Makkah-Jeddah Road with a length of 3 km, were also completed.

The road connectivity projects also included the ring road in Jeddah city that connects the main arteries. The first part is 9 km long with the intersection, which starts from King Faisal Al-Khomrah Road until the intersection of Jeddah-Jazan Road. The mayoralty is also implementing 23 projects in the Jeddah governorate mayoralty. These include completing some roads in the Makkah region, such as the road project that starts from the Briman intersection on the East Airport Road until the Makkah - Madinah double road, with an intersection on the Makkah - Madinah Expressway with a link to the road leading to Hoda Al-Sham Road, with a length of 13 km with the intersection, and the completion of the road that starts from the Briman intersection to Makkah - Madinah Road.

The projects also included the secondary roads in the Makkah region; completion of Briman intersection road; lighting and concrete barriers with a length of 28 km; improving intersections on East Airport Road; establishing a road to connect King Abdullah Sports City to Jeddah city; intersections with a length of 70 km; four intersections and modification of bridges at the intersections of the North Terminal and the Pilgrims’ Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, and three intersections and the highway linking Jeddah and Makkah.