Companies executing the Al Shamal Road development project have completed 70% of the work on bridges and tunnels, local Arabic daily Al Sharq has reported.
According to information obtained by the daily, work on the bridges and tunnels will be competed by the middle of next year.
The bridges are being constructed with the aim of making traffic flow smoother and reducing congestion. However, the daily has also observed that some of the existing bridges need reconsideration, especially the Umm al’Amad bridge.
A market is located under the bridge and cannot be easily accessed. As a result, some shoppers park their vehicles on the bridge to reach the shops below. This leads to severe congestion on the stretch, according to the report.
‘Reserved’ parking slots irk motorists
A number of motorists have complained that residents of some internal roads in Doha “allocate” parking slots for themselves in front of the buildings where they live in violation of the law, local daily Al Arab has reported.
On conducting a tour of some localities, the daily found that residents as well as commercial outlets had “reserved” parking slots for themselves in front of their respective buildings.
They use several methods to prevent other people from parking vehicles there, including writing a “no parking” message on the wall, placing cement blocks in front of the parking slot and sometimes even using plastic barriers owned by the authorities, according to the report.
Residents, meanwhile, said “harsh measures” that could be taken to prevent others from parking their vehicles in such “reserved” areas included deflating tyres, lifting the front wipers and even causing damage to the car, the report adds.
Scribbling “no parking” messages on walls and keeping cement blocks in parking lots are seen by some as practices that distort the urban landscape of Doha. Besides, it was found that a shop had placed plastic barriers - which are generally used in the works of the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) - to “reserve” a car parking area, it further states.
According to Article 82 of Traffic Law No 19 of 2007, as amended by Law No 5 of 2010, placing barriers that hamper traffic flow or occupy streets is not allowed unless it is done through a written permit. Individuals and shops that “reserve” parking lots for themselves and use barriers to prevent the use of such space by others do not obtain any permission and violate the law, according to some citizens.