Jeddah Mayor Hani Abu Ras briefs Makkah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah about city’s ongoing projects. (SPA)

The Jeddah Municipality has undertaken a massive project to build bridges and underpasses in the city to ease traffic congestion.

Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah, governor of Makkah, formally opened an overpass at the intersection of Ismail Abudawood with Andalus which had been under construction for the last two years.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor put emphasis on the timely completion of projects and called on the parties concerned to constantly monitor the progress of work under way.

He said that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman and the Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin want Jeddah to develop on par with other cities in the Kingdom.

With the construction of the latest overpass, Prince Sultan Street has now become easily accessible for commuters on Tahlia Street heading for Andalus.

The overpass was started two years ago with an estimated cost of SR31 million and was completed within the required time frame, according to Jeddah Municipality officials. With a length of 740 meters and a width of 9.3 meters, the overpass is more spacious than others built across the city recently.

Prince Mishaal also laid the foundation of two other similar projects in the city for smooth vehicular flow and to eliminate traffic jams.

The governor laid the foundation stone for the construction of an underpass connecting King Abdulaziz Road with Palestine Street encompassing Al-Hamra. With a length of 1,400 meters, the tunnel will be built at a cost of SR314 million and is scheduled to be completed in three years, said Hani Abu Ras, Jeddah mayor.

Prince Mishaal also laid the foundation stone of another project with an underpass and an overpass at the intersection of Prince Majed Street with the old Makkah Road. The project with a cost of SR194 million will also be completed over a period of three years.

In a bid to provide commuters easy and faster access to King Abdulaziz International Airport from various parts of the city, the Jeddah Municipality is strategically building underpasses and overpasses eliminating traffic lights.

Prince Majed Street, which is commonly known as Sabayeen, and King Fahd Street — the two main traffic arteries of the city — are being converted into roads without traffic signals.
Abu Ras said that a total of 19 bridges and underpasses had been opened to the public in the last three and half years and work was in progress on another nine projects in the city.

He said that apart from the three proposals, four other projects under study.

Later, the mayor made a brief presentation of the projects for the benefit of Prince Mishaal at the inauguration site.