JEDDAH: The flyover between Sari and Prince Sultan roads, with a length of 850 meters and a width of 17 meters, was officially opened on Thursday during a ceremony attended by municipal and traffic police officials.
Speaking on the occasion, Assistant Undersecretary for Municipal Construction and Projects Ahmad Banafie said the project, which cost about SR31 million and was executed over 20 months, was part of a broader series of projects aimed at easing traffic in Jeddah.
“This is the fourth project of its kind to be opened lately,” said Banafie. “It was preceded by three new flyovers: on Tahliah Street, the bridge of King Fahd Street with Quraish and the bridge of Prince Majed Street with Gharnatah Street. They are all projects initiated by the municipality two years ago to end traffic bottlenecks.” Banafie said a sewage project was simultaneously being implemented with the flyover scheme and as a result the two contractors had to coordinate with each otherin order to overcome difficulties in execution.
“This has led to a delay in the implementation of the project,” he said adding that the flyover’s traffic detour was done in phases according to instructions by the traffic police. He also said the flyover was not built according to schedule because of some difficulties at the beginning of the project.
The cost of the flyover and tunnels in Jeddah was estimated to be SR5 billion, including about SR1.5 billion for 20 crossings under implementation, SR1.1 billion for projects under placement and contracting, and SR3 billion for 34 projects in the stage of designing.
