Bicycle roundabout to be renovated

The Darragah (Bicycle) roundabout at the intersection of the King Fahd Road (Sitteen) and the Roudah Road will get a new look with the construction of an overpass.
The Jeddah Municipality will award the contract for the project after scrutinizing the bids tomorrow (Tuesday). A technical committee will examine all bids to identify the best contractor, Al-Sharq daily reported quoting reliable sources.
The project is the last among the municipal projects aimed at easing the traffic on the King Fahd Road that cuts across the city from the Jeddah Islamic Port in the south to the Nuzhah district in the north.
The contract involves construction of an overpass in the north-south direction with service and approach roads, which will have to be completed in a year.
Meanwhile, the works for street lighting and pavement construction are underway at the two projects that were commissioned recently. They are at the crossing of the Prince Majed Road overpass above the underpass of the Prince Muhammad Road (old Tahliah Road) which was opened two months ago and also on the Prince Muhammad Road overpass above the Umm Al-Qura Road which was opened last week.
“All bridges opened this year are in need of improvements on their lower side because of the Traffic Department does not want to stop the traffic arrangements underneath or in its sides temporarily opened during project work,” Public Relations Director of Jeddah Municipality Mustafa Qurban said.
He added that the work on the Prince Majed overpass is on the point of completion. Some lanes that were used before the beginning of the construction would be closed, he said.
In another development, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Prince Mansour bin Miteb issued an order extending the contract period of the underpass on the Madinah Road - Sary Street intersection till the end of January next year. According to the original contract, the project on the city’s busiest road was to be completed by May 15 this year when the two-year contract period which began on May 15, 2010 was completed. However, the period was extended by a ministerial order to the end of January next year.
The delay is attributed to the greater volume of work needed to replace the utility and flood drainage infrastructure at the work site than was anticipated at the time of the contract award. The contract amount has also been increased from SR94 million to SR104 million.