TAIF, 24 September 2006 — Javid Azim, an Indian engineer working in Riyadh, was traveling recently with his family from the nation’s capital to Jeddah when, just outside of Taif, he encountered a closed highway.
No signs had been posted warning him of the roadblock, and he was forced to circle back through the mountains and take an alternate route, adding time to drive across the Saudi desert to the Red Sea Coast that normally takes about eight or nine hours.
Al-Hada Road, which was completed in 1970, is known as the scenic route into the city of Taif, where tourists can see the baboons that have grown accustomed to receiving treats from tourists.
Travelers can take the alternate route, Al-Sail Road, but the problem is that no road signs have been erected informing drivers to take the detour until they encounter the blocked passage.
The Transport Ministry has closed an important 12 km stretch of Al-Hada Road connecting Taif and Jeddah in order to complete an expansion project that began over a year ago. The SR198 million ($52.8 million) project, which had been suspended to facilitate summer vacation traffic to the mild highland resort city, is expected to take two more years.
Al-Hada is also an important thoroughfare for commercial traffic and a vital link between the Kingdom’s southwestern and western regions. Businessmen from the south use the highway to bring agricultural goods to markets in Jeddah and Makkah.
The project entails expanding the lanes in both directions and dividing them with a concrete barrier to mitigate the incidence of accidents.
The closure is causing problems with people who might be traveling during Ramadan.
Omar Al-Husseini, the director of the traffic department in Taif, said yesterday that it would not be possible to open the road for the peak Umrah season during Ramadan. He said the road would also be closed for the next Haj, which this year will begin in late December.
Everyday users of the road, such as teachers and employees who live in Taif but work in Makkah, also find their commutes inconvenienced. But what unnerved other road users is the lack of warning that Al-Hada is closed and that they should take Al-Sail instead.
