Bahrain's major Saar street development project on track

Bahraini officials said work is progressing at a steady pace on the BD2.85-million Saar Street Development Project and is due for completion by the end of this year.

Already the development project with the junction on Street 35 is 46% completed, said a statement from Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning.

The scope of work includes street expansion by 3.895 km for a two-way road with 7 m width in both directions in addition to developing several junctions on it with five traffic lights at the following junctions: Saar Street junction with Street 35, Saar Street junction with Road 1523, Saar Road junction with Road 2941, Saar Road junction with Road 1715 and Street 45, and Saar Road junction with Road 1725, it stated.

The work also involves construction of 400 car parks along the street besides making four service streets with shops, said the statement.

There will also be a pedestrian walkway on the side of the street on both ways along the street, it added.

"The initial layers of asphalt are being implemented in addition to creating rain drainage networks," said Sayed Bader Alawi, the head of project management and road maintenance at the ministry.

"The project will see new rain drainage networks, lightning networks, in addition to further security and development of water, electricity and communication in cooperation with the concerned departments, and ground canals will also be implemented for future use," he explained.

There are many residential blocks and establishments around the project, aside from the traffic of Al-Aali and the many pedestrians and bicycles and the entrances to the residential areas on the side of the street, he added.

Works ministry aims to improve the traffic movement through the development of Saar Street and to increase traffic security through it, as well as organizing the movement of vehicles and pedestrians and increasing the capacity of the street by double.

The street will be able to comprehend about 4,000 vehicles at a time and it is expected that with the project completion, the traffic jam time will decrease by 60%, said the statement from the ministry.

The current average traffic movement is about 30,000 vehicles per day going both ways, as for morning and afternoon peak hours, the traffic density is about 2,000 vehicles per hour for both ways.The street capacity will reach 58,000 vehicles per day, it added.-TradeArabia News Service