Riyadh residents complain against heavy traffic

Increasing number of cars and undergoing construction works are piling up traffic woes in Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom, complain regular motorists.
“It’s worse during peak hours in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon after office hours, causing frustration to motorists which sometimes results in road accidents,” said an expatriate who requested anonymity.
Dr. Essam bin Hassan Kawther of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah has estimated the damage caused by road accidents at SR87.18 billion annually. His estimate was based on a study conducted on 1,100 people involved in accidents, 872 of whom were injured.
The General Directorate of Traffic has also reported that an average of 17 fatalities occur on Saudi roads each day. The World Health Organization found Saudi Arabia to have the world’s highest number of deaths from road accidents, which now make up the country’s principal cause of death in adult males aged 16 to 36.
Eric P. Asi, an electrical engineer at Nardeen Lighting, said that he experienced heavy traffic early in the morning as he drove his kids to school in Suleimania district. “The roads are jampacked even at 6 a.m. when we leave the house,” he said.
“However, the roads are still congested at one or two o’clock in the afternoon when I go to the site where we have a project,” he said.
The traffic police, he said, have been monitoring the traffic buildup and try to control it. “But the number of cars in the Saudi capital has greatly increased because it’s now easy to acquire a vehicle. Car companies now release a unit even without a down payment.”
Asi added that the traffic had been exacerbated by the seemingly interminable road construction in various parts of the city but motorists were relieved when some of these projects were completed.
He was referring to the 500-meter tunnel near the Riyadh Airbase, connecting Abu Bakr Assidiq Road. Another project is the Al-Orouba Road, which runs from east to west and connects with Abdulralhman Al-Ghafiqi Street in the east.
“We are eagerly waiting for the Riyadh Metro to become operational. But something has to be done for the time being,” he said.
A number of motorists suggested number coding, which means that cars with plate numbers ending in even digits can use the roads only on certain days of the week. The same is true for cars with plate numbers ending in odd digits. Violators would be penalized.
“But this will be a problem for expatriates for whom cars are a necessity. They can’t afford to have two cars with plate numbers ending in odd and even numbers and which they can use alternately for going to work,” said Meynard M. Pesig, an engineer at Light Technologies.
Steve Portes, a civil engineer at a local firm, said that the Riyadh Metro is the best solution to traffic woes. The Riyadh Metro is a planned rapid transit system in the Saudi capital and will be the backbone of the city’s public transport system.
It will be called the “King Abdulaziz Transportation Project.”
Uwe Krueger, CEO of the consultancy firm Atkins said, “Riyadh Metro is a landmark project which will raise the standards of living and support sustainable development throughout the city, acting as a catalyst for further investment in all aspects of the public realm and built environment.
Atkins won a $120 million contract to handle the design of Package Three of the Riyadh Metro.
The contracts for the Riyadh Metro were established last July with three global alliances at a total value of about $22.5 billion (about SR84.4 billion) and expected to be completed in five years. The Metro is being funded by the Public Investment Fund.