Traffic on Jeddah's Prince Majed Street this weekend. (Okaz photo)JEDDAH: Residents of Jeddah are preparing for their traffic woes to worsen in the coming days as the city readies itself to receive thousands of visitors in the form of tourists and Umrah pilgrims from the Kingdom and beyond. Road works for overpasses and underpasses continue on many thoroughfares leaving much of the city center subject to diversions and hold-ups, with traffic frequently coming to standstill during the morning and evening rush hours. Jeddah Traffic Department chief Muhammad Al-Qahtani described all the works being carried out as “extremely important”, the benefit from which will be seen in the future. “They have, however, had adverse effects and caused severe traffic problems in some main streets and roads,” he said. “Most of the works being done are along very busy roads, which has obliged the Traffic Department to work with other authorities to introduce diversions leading inevitably to congestion in other streets.” Al-Qahtani said that once the road works are finished the traffic congestion that has become a feature of the city would also be over. “Jeddah suffers from considerable congestion in certain periods, specifically Ramadan, the summer and during the Eids, but plans have been drawn up to ease the problem,” he said. A source at the Jeddah Mayoralty said that although road works had forced some main thoroughfares to close to traffic, the opening of temporary roads, diversions and turns had helped. “The works will have very positive results when finished and hopefully that can be done quickly,” the source said. “We would ask the public to be understanding and try and avoid streets when they are at their busiest.”
