Traffic on both sides of the King Fahd Causeway during the holy month of Ramadan will be light to moderate, according to officials of the King Fahd Causeway Authority (KFCA). “Traffic on both the Saudi Arabia and Bahrain side will not be heavy during the Ramadan period because of the downgrading of entertainment activities in Manama. Visitors from Saudi Arabia will be limited in numbers, while Bahrainis crossing the border to Saudi Arabia will be mostly shoppers taking advantage of cheap consumer goods in Al-Khobar and Dammam,” an official on the Saudi side of the causeway said. He said the usual traffic jams are now being eased with the expansion of more lanes on both sides of the 25-km-long bridge. On the Saudi side of the border, the number of departure lanes has been increased from 10 to 17 while the number of arrival lanes has gone from 13 to 18. The truck lanes from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain will be increased from two to five, while from Bahrain to the Kingdom, there will be four lanes instead of only two. KFCA general manager Bader Abdullah Al-Otaishan earlier said that the expansion project will be completed by end of August. “The opening of more lanes will greatly ease the traffic even during the regular run on the bridge,” the official said. The expansion of the passenger lanes will be completed at the cost of about SR 60 million, while the projected cost of the expansion of the truck lanes will be SR10.8 million. The total number of vehicles which passed the toll gate last year was 8,646,724, a daily average of 23,690. The total number of travellers in both directions in 2008 was17,743,495 passengers, at the rate of 48,612 passengers per day.
