The first phase of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade Project has opened today in the presence of H. E. Mr. Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport & Communications, H.E. Mr. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, Minister of Municipality and Environment, H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi, President of the Public Works Authority, and a number of senior officials from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Public Works Authority, the General Directorate of Traffic in the Ministry of Interior, and Al Rayyan Municipality.

Ministers and attendees were briefed through a presentation on the project’s implementation phases, which extend for approximately 2.9 kilometres from west of Khalid Bin Abdullah Al-Attiyah Roundabout (New Al Rayyan Roundabout) to east of Bani Hajer Roundabout, in addition to having a visit to the project site, particularly to the underpasses of Al Qalaa and Al Shafi interchanges which were opened to traffic.

H.E. Mr. Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport & Communications:
H.E. Mr. Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications, congratulated the Public Works Authority for completing the project before its deadline, pointing out that the road is complete under all standards, even with regards to infrastructure. It includes dedicated tunnels to avoid the need to disrupt the road in order to implement maintenance works as in the previous roads.

His Excellency said that the road is modern and will bring a smooth traffic flow until completion of the remaining part, especially that the works continue at a faster pace to finish the rest of the project phases. He noted that the project achieved significant progress, and that the first phase was completed before its deadline.

Finally, H.E. the Minister expressed his gratitude to all authorities concerned with this project, and the efforts paid by all authorities concerned with coordination and implementation, as well as the General Directorate of Traffic.

H.E. the Minister of Municipality and Environment:
H.E. Mr. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Rumaihi, Minister of Municipality and Environment, expressed his pleasure about accelerating the pace of projects’ implementation and Ashghal’s commitment to opening this phase before the scheduled date. H.E. noted that there is a huge commitment from the authority in this regard, and today’s opening is an evidence that projects are being delivered according to the scheduled dates, with some projects opening even before their deadlines.

H.E. the Minister explained that accelerating the implementation will contribute to enhancing the traffic movement and satisfying the ambition of citizens as there are complaints about the amounts of traffic congestion, and with some projects causing disruption of some streets or roads. He pointed out that the part which opened today will help reduce traffic congestion in the surrounding areas like Al Rayyan, Muaither, Al Shafi, and Bani, especially in Al Rayyan Municipality which is one of the largest municipalities in Qatar in terms of population. H.E. hoped that the rest of the project will be completed during the coming months and will provide a smooth traffic movement from Doha to Dukhan, serving citizens and supporting economic services in the area.

His Excellency also pointed out that Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor is a vital artery with many advantages that will serve all areas along the road, from Doha to Dukhan, through Al Rayyan, Al Wajba, Al Sheehaniya, and the entire Western and Northern areas.

H.E. President of the Public Works Authority:
H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi, President of the Public Works Authority, stressed Ashghal's commitment to the directives of H.E. the Prime Minister on delivering Ashghal’s projects on or before the scheduled dates, which was achieved through opening the first phase of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade Project two months before the scheduled dates as part of the authority’s efforts to accelerate the pace of implementation and rescheduling some projects to be delivered before the deadlines. His Excellency also expressed his appreciation to H.E. the Prime Minister’s keenness to closely follow-up the implementation progress of those projects on ground, which reflects the country’s commitment to support and implement such important development projects.

H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al Muhannadi stated that the first phase of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade project, which opened to traffic today, will contribute to the improvement of traffic movement in the area and shorten the travel time by around 20% to 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 shoretend.

Phase 1 of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade project:
Opening this phase of Al Rayyan Road is considered one of the important milestones achieved within phases 1 and 2 of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade project; it prepares for completion of more parts of Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor whose positive impact will be reflected gradually with completion of the rest of projects along the corridor.

The first phase of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade project extends for approximately 2.9 km from west of Khalid bin Abdullah Al Attiyah Roundabout (New Al Rayyan Roundabout) to east of Bani Hajer Roundabout. It includes the construction of four lanes in each direction separated by a median, around 2 km of side roads, and around 5.8 of service roads. The project also includes the construction of three interchanges, namely the interchange between Al Shafi Street and Al Rayyan Road, and interchange between Al Qalaa Street and Al Rayyan Road. Those interchanges include two underpasses that provide a continuous traffic movement along Al Rayyan Road, and they include traffic signals on the ground level to facilitate the flow of vehicles to and from Al Rayyan Road from the surrounding areas, especially the residential areas on Al Qalaa Street and the commercial areas on Al Shafi Street, which will reduce the congestion in internal roads and reduce dependence on them. The interchange between Al Rayyan Road and Al Wajba Street, which is a signalised intersection, is also being developed as part of the project and will be completed soon.

The project also includes the construction of pedestrian and cyclist paths in an aim to encourage people to walk and use bicycles, which are considered environment-friendly means of transportation as they don’t produce any emissions that negatively affect the environment, in addition to their role in reducing traffic congestion.

Three lanes in each direction were open to traffic of the part that has been upgraded in Al Rayyan Road, despite completion of all four lanes in each direction, until the completion of works in other phases of the project which currently include traffic persions, in order to avoid congestion.

The project included a broader scope of infrastructure works that included construction of service tunnels, around 5 km of storm water drainage networks, treated sewage effluent (TSE) and sewage networks, and installation of street lighting poles.

Over 187,400 cubic metres of concrete were used in the project, in addition to 21,000 ton of reinforcement steel and 100,000 ton of asphalt. The project was implemented by the joint venture of “Boom Contruction” and “Six Construct” at a cost of 1 billion and 80 million Qatari Riyals.

Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor
The new road which was opened as part of the first phase of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade project represents an important component of Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor, which is a major corridor that extends for more than 45 kilometres from west of the Olympic Roundabout to Dukhan Road, and connects with Al Sheehaniya – Al Otouriya – Lejmeliya Road. Being a key part of the expressway network, this artery road will facilitate access to a large number of vital areas from east of the country to its west and vice versa through a fast continuous line.

Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor is implemented through five expressway projects that are being implemented simultaneously, and it includes 17 major interchanges and its number of lanes range from three to four lanes in each direction. Other parts of this corridor will open to traffic during 2017, and it is planned to be completed in 2018.

Other projects within Al Rayyan –Dukhan Corrdior are: Dukhan Highway central which extends for approximately 18 km from Al Wajba Interchange to East of Al Sheehaniya, Dukhan Highway East which extends for approximately 12.6 km from west of Al Wajba Interchange to East of the Tilted Interchange and along Al Gharrafa Road from south of Al Rayyan Road to north of Thani bin Jassim Street, Phase 2 of Al Rayyan Road Upgrade, which extends for approximately 9.5 km from west of the Olympic Roundabout (Sports Roundabout) to west of Khalid bin Abdulla Roundabout, as well as Al Sheehaniya –Leatooriya – Lijmiliya Road which extends for 31 km from Dukhan Highway through the Camel Race Track in Al Sheehaniya City, to Leatooriya. The project will be completed in 2017.

Tangible Expressway Network Features
Al Rayyan – Dukhan Corridor is part of a comprehensive plan for an integrated and interconnected expressway network implemented by Ashghal. As features of the expressway network start to appear and with the completion of large parts of it during 2017 and 2018, the traffic movement in Qatar will witness a significant change as several major corridors will be created as part of this network, which will serve as arteries linking all parts of the country.

Over the next two years, other important corridors will be completed as part of the expressway network, which will support the economic and population development and change road users' experience in the country in terms of enhanced traffic flow and shortened travel times across Qatar.