The city's traffic department has prepared a comprehensive plan to ease traffic congestion in some of the public squares and traffic intersections on vital roads in Makkah. This is according to Maj. Fawzi Al-Ansari, spokesman of the Traffic Administration in Makkah. He said the plan is meant to tackle the traffic jams created by the increasing number of development projects being carried out in different parts of the holy city. He said the study focuses on easing traffic bottlenecks in vital areas such as Jurhum, Al-Hujoon and Al-Khansa streets. He said the Traffic Administration does need the cooperation of the Makkah Mayoralty to carry out the recommendations. He said the plan will help to change the face of the holy city and convert it into a smart city. He said the huge developmental projects being carried out in different parts of the holy city, especially the expansion of the northern courtyards at the Grand Mosque and work on the new ring roads, have affected the flow of traffic on some of the public squares. To handle this problem, the Traffic Administration's plan will be carried out during this summer holiday, starting at the end of next week. He said a feature of the plan is to mobilize hundreds of traffic policemen to streamline traffic flow around-the- clock, especially in congested areas like the Central Area surrounding the Grand Mosque as well as Souq Al-Hejaz, Al-Otaibia, Al-Sitteen, Al-Mansour and Al-Azizia. The announcement of the traffic department's plan comes a day after Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Makkah Emir, ordered an urgent study to tackle the traffic and pedestrian congestion in Makkah and at the Holy Sites and Central Zone, particularly during Ramadan and Haj. Chairing a meeting at his office Sunday, Prince Khaled said the study, for which he set a completion deadline of Aug. 10, should find “modern methods” to tackle congestion and include a “10-year time-plan for execution”. “We will work to make Makkah the most intelligent of ‘intelligent cities' through the use of the most up-to-date precision technology available, and I will personally supervise and follow the work,” Prince Khaled said. The meeting comes ahead of the opening of the SR6.7 billion Makkah metro project this Haj season.
