The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) yesterday announced  that the Corniche Street would be completely open to traffic on October 15, six weeks prior to the originally planned date, upon converting roundabouts to signal-controlled intersections.

Works to convert the internal roundabouts to intersections (Onaiza, Lejbailat and Al Maha) will be carried on during November.

Roundabouts that have been converted into signal-controlled junctions on the Corniche include Museum of Islamic Art, Emiri Diwan, Qatar National Theatre, Wadi Al Sail, and General Post Office, in addition to the Grand Hamad Street and Al-Mina intersections.

Another key feature of the Corniche facelift is the increase in the number of safe pedestrian crossings.

All traffic signals are equipped with pedestrian traffic lights to ensure safety of road users and decrease the number of fatalities of unsecured street crossing.

These signals will be controlled through the new Intelligent Transportation Systems which react to the volume of traffic, creating a so-called “green-wave”. It maximises the number of green lights ahead of heavy traffic.

The benefit of the new system is that traffic will flow much smoother and faster from and to the Corniche area than before, reducing journey times, increasing safety and removing the need to slow down and stop at every intersection as was the case with roundabouts.

The work on the Corniche project began in July this year to take advantage of the summer vacation time. Work was carried out round the clock by three major construction companies in order to complete it before the set deadline.

Ashghal yesterday thanked all road users who have endured traffic congestion on the Corniche over the past three months. It also expressed its gratitude to the Traffic Department and Lekhwiya which worked relentlessly to ensure traffic flow without blocking the construction and infrastructure works as well as to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation, the Gardens Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning and other government entities for their support.

The three contracted companies worked relentlessly with the Ashghal team to complete the project in a record time, without the full closure of the Corniche area and overcoming one of the biggest engineering challenges in developing main roads.

As part of the upgrade works, road users will notice that the number of lanes at intersections have been increased to ease the U-turn and left turn without affecting the traffic flow. This space was gained from the central medians.

 

 

 

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