“Since the beginning of the current week, vehicles have been diverted onto alternate roads as part of the new arrangements. The bridges are being demolished to facilitate construction works of the Haramain Railway at this area of the city,” said Col. Hamid Al-Raqeeb, director in charge of Jeddah Traffic Department. 

He said that demolition of bridges started with the Pilgrims’ Bridge near King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA). This will be followed by bridges in the southward direction at Briman, Tahlia, Palestine and ending with the Jamia bridge.

“After completion of demolition works, traffic movement will resume from the western part of the city and then from the east. The new traffic arrangements include opening a number of new entry and exit points,” he said. 

Al-Raqeeb said his department has mobilized all of its resources to facilitate traffic movement on the usually busy highway and across the city, especially at major intersections, in view of the heavy rush in the current fasting month of Ramadan and the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

“Patrol units at KAIA as well as along Makkah Road, Haramain Expressway and Madinah Road have been reinforced with additional forces to cope with the heavy rush of Umrah pilgrims and visitors from within and outside the Kingdom,” he said while urging road users to fully cooperate with the traffic authorities in this regard.

He called on people not to resort to wrong parking, especially in front of commercial markets in a way hampering smooth flow of traffic.

An official of the Transport Ministry said late last month that 83 percent of the appraisal of the properties to be acquired for the Haramain rail project had been completed.

The high-speed Haramain Railway will link the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah with Jeddah, a key entry point for millions of pilgrims, and to King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction in Rabigh.