Khobar Tunnel located on the highway before entering Dammam City near the Sports Stadium will be closed to traffic starting this Thursday to enable city engineers and the contracted road-building company to undertake major repairs. “The tunnel will be closed starting Dec. 25; and because it will undergo major repairs, we cannot tell the public when it will be reopened,” said Hussain Belushi, public relations director of Dammam Municipality. “The city engineer's office plans to close the tunnel for repairs. The municipality expresses its apology to the motoring public for the inconvenience,” he said. For about a year now, the lower portion of both sides of the road running through the tunnel has been caving in, with water leaking from underground and flooding the tunnel. Motorists have to slow down because the middle portions of the road have become slippery. The ceramic tiles that were fastened to the walls of the tunnel are also falling off. Traffic police authorities, in coordination with the city engineer's office, have already completed a road plan to re-route traffic. City officials had earlier said that the cost of the repairs will be billed to the original contractors and consultants who constructed the tunnel. The Dammam-Khobar Highway is the main road connecting the twin cities. It is a busy highway because of the presence of government offices, the First Dammam Industrial City, and other large companies like the Saudi Electricity Company and the Saudi Aramco extension office. The Dammam-Khobar Tunnel, constructed two years ago, is one of the many tunnels and overpasses constructed and being built within the Dammam Greater Area, which includes the cities of Dammam, Al
