Business & Money | Sunday 15 February, 2015 2:34 am |

Jeddah’s traffic problems can be solved only by a massive transit system in the city, said Maj. Gen. Waslullah Al-Harbi, director of Jeddah Traffic.
“If such alternative traffic projects were fully implemented, as much as 70 percent of Jeddah’s road congestion would disappear,” Al-Harbi told Arab News on Saturday.
He said his department has held a number of meetings with the Roads and Transport Administration and the municipal authorities with the aim of finding a longterm solution to the city’s traffic woes.

“Peak traffic time lasts for hours when it should be only a fraction of that time,” Al-Harbi said. “It happens because there is no mass public transport system.”
Al-Harbi said a study by the College of Engineering at the King Abdul Aziz University revealed that traffic density in Jeddah is three times as much as the city roads can handle. A solution suggested by the study was the introduction of a light train system in addition to plenty of buses linking various metro stations with both residential and commercial districts.

He commended the city’s construction of overpasses and tunnels at road intersections across the city. Though construction is causing problems at present, once the work is completed, traffic congestion will be greatly reduced.
Al-Harbi asked all drivers to bear the problems caused by the road construction work. The work is a burden not only to ordinary drivers but also to the traffic department itself. The problems are particularly evident during vacations and Ramadhan when the city’s normal population increases because of visitors and tourists who contribute substantially to the local economy.

Jeddah residents have many complaints about traffic bottlenecks on city roads.
Khaled Abdul Kareem told Arab News that the bottlenecks increased stress and he hoped that the problems would soon be solved since so much precious time is wasted driving around the city.

Abdul Hadi Al-Motairy said a man needed several hours to drive from north Jeddah to the southern part of the city. He pointed out that there were many locations where traffic police could be permanently present in order to ease traffic flow, especially in areas where construction is going on.
Muhammad Munir said some areas needed special attention by the the traffic police. He mentioned the Al-Haramain Road where day- long congestion is experienced from Breman Bridge to Jamia flyover. He added that any accident on this road blocked traffic for hours and thus a constant police presence is required. He felt that Jeddah’s current traffic problems could only be solved by alternate arrangements such as a metro system connecting all major districts.