Prince Khaled reviews progress of Jeddah mass transit project

Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal reviewed the Jeddah transportation projects, their development and future plans on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by Prince Mishaal bin Majed, governor of Jeddah, Hani Abu Ras, mayor of Jeddah, Saad bin Mohammed, adviser to Prince Khaled, Osama Abdouh, CEO of Jeddah Metro, and a team of officials and engineers of Jeddah Metro.
Prince Khaled reviewed the developments of public transport projects, aspects of engineering and architectural designs, as well as developments on some elements of the project such as multiple patterns, Obhur Creek Bridge and the Metro station at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.
The governor reviewed the timetables for different phases of the projects and their implementation, the general plan for transport projects, the developments of the projects, and designs of Metro stations in Jeddah.
He stressed the need to stick to the timeframes for project phases due to the importance of the Jeddah's main road project linking east Jeddah to north and south, putting more attention on its completion, including in the planning and implementation of public transport components in Jeddah, and focusing on future developments.
He also paid attention to the logo of Jeddah public transportation projects to be a symbol and stressed that the logo be placed on Metro stations, bus and trams, sea taxis and other transportation projects to differentiate them from public transportation in the other regions of the Kingdom.
In all, 31 contracts have been signed. Jeddah Metro has hired 52 young Saudi engineers and a number of Saudi youths and trained them for different tasks under the Metro project and other Jeddah public transportation projects.
Abdouh said that by October almost 30 percent of the public transportation project will be completed, and identified five locations for Metro stations, namely at the environmental roundabout in the center of Jeddah, the intersection of Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz (Tahlia Street) with Madinah Road, old Makkah Road Kilo 10 and two Metro stations next to Aziz Mall and the Mall of Arabia.
The Obhur Iconic Bridge will be 74 meters wide and 51 meters high, with a clearance of 15.5 meters and a creek crossing length of 360 meters. The bridge will be two km long, with four traffic lanes in each direction, two footpaths and two lanes of rail transit. The rail lines will be in the median but above the vehicular traffic. The bridge will be designed with a shipping navigation clearance of approximately 16m at center span and to provide a navigation channel of at least 200m width.