JEDDAH: Vehicles started passing over the newly built flyover at the intersection between Prince Muhammad (Tahliah) Street and Prince Miteb (Arbaeen) Street yesterday morning.
Ahmad Banafa, general supervisor of projects at the Jeddah municipality, said the project, which began in January 2008, cost SR19.3 million and consists of two 3.3-meter wide lanes in both directions.
The flyover was opened with municipal officials and traffic police in attendance to ensure smooth operation, he said.
Regular users of the busy Tahliah Street expressed relief over the project’s commissioning.
Banafa said the opening of the flyover was delayed by a month due to some unexpected circumstances relating to a lack of coordination between contractors.
The contracting company, he said, took precautionary measures to guarantee smooth traffic during the construction phase.
The flyover across Quraish Street along King Fahd Road was scheduled for opening along with the Tahliah Street project.
Banafa said 26 light posts were installed along the new flyovers as part of the overall project, which is expected to be fully operational in 10 days.
“The two projects are worth SR37.3 million and they represent only a small part of the ongoing road projects in the city,” he said. The municipality’s total road projects are worth more than SR5 billion, he said.
The ongoing 18 road development projects are estimated at SR1 billion, according to Ibrahim Kutubkhanah, deputy mayor for construction and projects.
“Projects that are currently under bid are estimated at SR1.1 billion while 35 projects worth SR3 billion are still in the design phase,” Kutubkhanah said.
