More tunnels and bridges are in the cards in Jeddah. The SR3 billion projects to develop the city's infrastructure will be completed in the next five years, Brigadier Muhammad Bin Hassan Al-Qahtani, Director of Traffic in Jeddah, has said. Al-Qahtani said a technical committee formed by Jeddah Mayoralty and the Traffic Department, has given the approval for the construction of 17 bridges and tunnels on roads with high traffic density in various parts of the coastal city aiming to ease the flow of traffic and reduce traffic jams particularly during rush hours, Al-Watan reported. Al-Qahtani said his department has drawn up a traffic plan whereby all service roads and main lanes remain open for traffic so that the construction work on these roads does not affect or obstruct the flow of traffic. Al-Qahtani said the Roads Directorate and the Traffic Department have benefited from a new Danish technology to measure the bearing capacity of roads at normal traffic speed. He said the new high speed deflectograph gives increased traffic safety when measuring bearing capacity and provides a considerably larger basis for planning of pavement maintenance stressing that the new technology increases safety for road users and measurement personnel. Brig. Al-Qahtani said about 2,874 private driving licenses were issued within one week after the implementation of the new system of granting driving licenses for 10 years a fee of SR400. __
