The situation on the streets will be further exacerbated when the returning Umrah pilgrims in their millions flood the Jeddah streets at the end of the Ramadan.
The ongoing road, bridge and sewage projects will also contribute to the traffic nightmare, civil engineer Khaled Al-Omar told Arab News.
“Currently, most streets need a large number of traffic police officers to keep the roads clear. Mostly police focus on crowded intersections on main roads and ignore the inner streets where the roads get blocked. This happens especially at the entry points to the city,” he said.
He demanded that a review of roundabouts in the city should be conducted and all unnecessary ones demolished. The removal of many roundabouts in 2008 eased traffic flow there, he said.
He also attributed the increasing traffic problems to the increasing number of vehicles. There are more than one million cars in Jeddah.
Some local residents said they were not using their cars for shopping trips since the middle of Ramadan because of the severe traffic jams near the malls.
Ali Bataweel, a Jeddah resident, said he used to advise his friends to go shopping during the day. “As most people go shopping at night, all roads get clogged,” he said.
Acting Director of Jeddah Traffic Police Brig. Hamid Al-Raqeeb said his department has sent out a full quota of officers to enable a smooth traffic flow on Jeddah roads.
An option to ease traffic is the use of public transport buses. However, at present there are only a few buses on a limited number of routes. The privately owned public transport buses that operate on some routes are outdated, unhygienic and not fit for families to travel in. Cabs are also not preferable for women if they have to shop at many places.