COVID-19: Panel set up to end Abha traffic jam as Saudi Arabia returns to normality
Closing the city centre to traffic during peak hours among measures being considered
Abu Dhabi: With the roads in Abha, the capital city of the Aseer Province near the Red Sea in southwestern Saudi Arabia, often congested with traffic, many of the city’s residents are at their wit’s end as the kingdom is returning to normality after three months of lockdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi media reported.
A plan to address Abha’s traffic woes has been drawn up under the direction of the Emir of the region, Prince Turki bin Talal.
Influx of tourists
The congestion over the past few days has caused traffic paralysis in Abha’s Belt Road and Al Souda road. Traffic police has started executing a plan to regulate the heavy flow of vehicles triggered by the influx of summer vacationers who have started flocking to the city to make the most of the weather that has so far remained pleasant, Al Watan newspaper reported. The easing of the lockdown has further increased traffic flow into this area.
Proposed solutions
One-way traffic on some roads Locking some signals on the Belt Road Having designated lanes for buses Creating alternative routes Removing some of the pavements and reducing the sizes of others Closing the central area of the city to traffic during peak hours.
Engineer Hassan Hadi Al Aram said the traffic situation in Abha needs an urgent solution, including moving crowded activities out of the city, setting up checkpoints to allow only family cars, locking traffic signals and directing movement of vehicles in one direction only, setting aside a dedicated lane for the movement of buses and pedestrians, and redirecting cars coming from the parks to alternative routes.
Slew of measures
Other engineers have called for the closure of some lanes of the Abha Belt Road and Al Souda road during peak summer and deactivation of some signals on the Belt Road. Moreover, allowing a U-turn, widening the entrance to Al Souda road, closing the connecting roads between Al Souda Road and Belt Road, closing the central area of the city to traffic during peak hours, removing some of the pavements or shrinking their size to make way for more road space are among the measures being considered to reduce congestion.
