Saeed Bafuhaid, director of bridges and underpasses at the municipality, said the project is the first of a series of projects to be implemented on the busy Old Makkah Road.
The new bridge, which was opened on Saturday for testing, is on the intersection between Jamia Street and Eskan Street. It is 1,200 meters long and 17 meters wide.
He said work on the project began about two years ago. “In the meantime, many obstacles appeared and we had to stop work on some parts of the bridge. This is the reason for the delay in completing the project.”
The project was scheduled for completion on Dec. 10, 2009, but was delayed because of the Nov. 25 floods, which destroyed a part of the bridge. “This necessitated removing the affected portion of the bridge and reconstructing it,” said Bafuhaid.
He said the new flyover has been built according to high engineering standards. “We have also introduced a new cost-effective technology without affecting quality. We were able to complete the project at a cost of SR44 million,” he said. The original contract value was SR48.8 million.
Bafuhaid said road users would not feel the change immediately, because the bridge “is part of a series of projects for removing traffic bottlenecks, and we have to wait until the completion of these projects to feel the difference.” He said eight projects are under way to ease traffic along Prince Majed Street. “We have completed only one project on the street at the intersection of Gharnata Street,” he added.
He disclosed plans to establish four new projects including a bridge over Palestine Street at the Prince Majed Street intersection. Work is also progressing on an underpass at Prince Muhammad Street along the Prince Majed Street intersection.
Bafuhaid thanked the Traffic Department for its cooperation with the municipality in carrying out these road projects. “We have requested the department to give its observations before opening the new projects to make them foolproof,” he said.
