The every day struggles of commuters with Haramain’s Expressway heavy traffic are on the rise, including the almost-daily total standstill in eastern Jeddah, after the closure of three bridges for the Haramain Railway construction.

With the shutdown of the King Abdullah, Tahlia and Airport bridges, people of the eastern districts were virtually isolated from the rest of the city. Drivers claim they have been suffering this extreme road congestion for seven days in a row now.

In a bid to curb the obnoxious traffic flow, an official of the Haramain Railway said an engineering team was set up to look for new detours and exits to ease the traffic crisis, and promised that solutions will be in place in two days.

“Our aerial reconnaissance begins early in the morning with special focus on traffic congestion which we instantly report to the Traffic Operations Room. We will continue the aerial observations until the traffic situation returns to normal,” Khaled Al-Salemi, chief of the unit monitoring traffic from the air, stated.

Makkah Director General of Transportation Muhammad Madani also said that authorities are working hard to find appropriate solutions. “Efforts are under way to find effective solutions to traffic bottlenecks around the bridges on the Tahlia (Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz) Road which are being demolished for the construction of the Haramain Railway Project,” Madani said.

Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, has also intervened to ease traffic in the city. As suggested by Prince Khaled, a committee headed by Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed has started taking steps to ease the traffic flow between the east and north of the city by opening the Samer underpass, and other measures at some key locations.

Drivers, who claim to suffer greatly on the road, are demanding that the railway contractor be asked to continue work round the clock so that the project is completed quickly and traffic congestion eased.