The Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’ announced today the completion of 75% of the Doha Corniche project, which includes converting roundabouts on Corniche Street and the surrounding areas to signal-controlled intersections in order to enhance the traffic flow to and from the West Bay area, and between the north and south of the capital.
Roundabouts being converted into intersections are the Museum of Islamic Art, Diwan, the National Theatre, Wadi Al Sail, Qatar Post, Onaizah, Lejbailat and Oryx, in addition to the Grand Hamad Street junction, considering that Mina Roundabout was completed earlier. All traffic signals at the mentioned intersections will be installed in 2 weeks and will open to traffic on project completion.
The work carried out by ‘Ashghal’ on the Corniche Street and the surrounding roads also includes the protection and upgrade of utility services in the project area and the establishment of an infrastructure for the traffic control system along the Corniche. This represents between 35 and 40% of both the volume of work and the cost of the project. The volume of what has been excavated from the area is nearly 70 thousand cubic meters, through the use of about 200 heavy machinery and about 1500 workers on all project sites.
The roundabouts are being replaced by intersections controlled by Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS). These systems react to the volume of traffic creating a so-called ‘green-wave’; maximising the number of green lights ahead of heavy traffic, creating smoother traffic flow and less congestion. The benefit of this is traffic will flow much smoother 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.
Work on the Corniche project, which costs between QR150 and QR200 million, started in July to utilise the quiet summer time. This work continues around the clock in order to complete the project in a record time.
Ashghal is very keen on finishing this vital project in the shortest possible time, which is why they contracted three different companies to work on this project 24/7 and meet the high-quality standards.