Muhammad Al-Baqmi, spokesman for the Jeddah Mayoralty, said Sunday that authorities will build 10 footbridges in the city at a cost of SR57 million for safety of pedestrians after traffic lights were done away with on some major streets.
He told Arab News that the mayoralty has received recommendations from the Jeddah Traffic Department about the need to expedite the building of such bridges. The department suggested building three footbridges over Sabaeen Street, four over Palestine Street and three over King’s Road.
“We expect the bridges to be operational by the middle of next year. They will be in addition to the existing 70 footbridges or so built around the city,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Zaid Al-Hamzi, spokesman for Jeddah traffic, said that the department is very concerned about the high incidence of people run over by vehicles due to the lack of footbridges on many major streets in the city.
“We have witnessed more than 60 cases where people were run over by vehicles during the last couple of months. There were 20 incidents on Palestine Street and another 20 on Sabaeen Street. In addition, there were 10 accidents on King’s Road, and 10 more on Al-Andalus Street. Passengers should be very careful when crossing streets,” he said.
A number of Jeddah citizens called on the authorities, like the mayoralty and traffic department, to build footbridges for crossing roads safely, especially on roads that experience heavy traffic.
One citizen said: “In many cases you find drivers doing 100 kp/h or more on the city’s roads. On one occasion I was about to be run over by a vehicle, but I was able to escape in the nick of time.”
10 footbridges to make life easier for Jeddah pedestrians
