The ongoing development of the 45km Al Rayyan-Dukhan Corridor got a major boost yesterday with the opening of two key interchanges - located between Al Shafi Street and Al Rayyan Road and between Al Qalaa (Fort) Street and Al Rayyan Road.
The first phase of the Al Rayyan Road Upgrade Project was opened in the presence of HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications; HE Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi, Minister of Municipality and Environment; Dr Saad bin Ahmed al-Muhannadi, president of the Public Works Authority (Ashghal); and a number of senior officials from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ashghal, General Directorate of Traffic at the Ministry of Interior and Al Rayyan Municipality.
The phase extends for about 2.9km from the western side of the Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Attiyah roundabout (New Al Rayyan roundabout) to the eastern side of the Bani Hajer roundabout. The project has been implemented at a cost of QR1.08bn so far.
Speaking at the formal launch of the interchanges, Dr al-Muhannadi stressed that the opening of the first phase would contribute to the improvement of traffic movement in the area and shorten travel time by around 20-30%.
“The full positive impact will clearly appear after completion of the main Al Rayyan-Dukhan Corridor in 2018, after which more than half the travel time will be shortened.”
The Al Rayyan-Dukhan Corridor extends from the western side of the Olympic roundabout to Dukhan Road and connects with the Al Sheehaniya-Leatooriya-Lijmiliya road. 
The work includes the construction of four lanes in each direction, separated by a median, nearly 2km of side roads and around 5.8km of service roads.
Three lanes in each direction have been opened to traffic, despite the completion of all four lanes in each direction. Ashghal has said the other lane will be opened pending the completion of works on other phases of the project, which currently involve traffic diversions, in order to avoid congestion.
Besides the two interchanges that have been opened, the project includes another signalled intersection on Al Wajba Street, which is expected to be completed in coming months.
The interchanges opened yesterday include two underpasses that provide continuous traffic movement along Al Rayyan Road and also have traffic signals on the ground level to facilitate the flow of vehicles to and from Al Rayyan Road from neighbouring areas, especially residential localities on Al Qalaa Street and commercial areas on Al Shafi Street. This will help reduce congestion on internal roads and reduce dependence on them.
The project also includes the construction of pedestrian and cycle paths in order to encourage people to walk and use bicycles, which are environment-friendly means of transportation and also help reduce traffic congestion.
As part of the infrastructure works, a service tunnel, 5km of storm-water drainage networks, treated sewage effluent, sewage networks and street lighting poles have been completed.
In all, the entire Al Rayyan-Dukhan Corridor has five expressway projects that are being simultaneously implemented and includes a total of 17 interchanges.
While more sections are expected to be commissioned in the coming months, the final completion is likely to take place in the second or third quarter of 2018.
Other projects of the Al Rayyan-Dukhan Corridor are the 18km Dukhan Highway Central between Al Wajba Interchange to the east of Al Sheehaniya, the 12km Dukhan Highway East from the west of Al Wajba Interchange to the east of the Tilted Interchange (near Qatar Foundation), and along Al Gharafa Road from the south of Al Rayyan Road to the north of Thani Bin Jassim Street, Phase 2 of the 9.5km Al Rayyan Road upgrade between the west of Olympic roundabout and west of Khalid Bin Abdulla roundabout and the 31km Al Sheehaniya-Leatooriya-Lijmiliya road from Dukhan Highway through the Camel Race Track (in Sheehaniya) to Leatooriya.