Jeddah truck traffic to be regulated

JEDDAH - Nine government and private agencies have been formed to draw out a permanent plan to deal with traffic congestion in Jeddah. The plan, which will also organize traffic and the entry of trucks, is in line with the directives of Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed, who approved the proposal in a meeting last Saturday at the municipality headquarters. An urgent, temporary phase includes seven points, after which the committee will evaluate the performance of the system to apply a permanent solution. The temporary plan includes limiting the entry time of water, gas, fuel, sewage, and garbage trucks as well as nutrition and animal transport vehicles into the city on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Concrete mixer transporting trucks and asphalt transport trucks will also fall in this category. The period from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. will be open for all other services, which include transport equipment, timber, and building materials trucks. On Thursday and Friday, all trucks will be allowed entry from 1 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. Prince Mishaal asked trucks and vehicle drivers to abide by the regulations, instructions, and safety means issued in this regard for their own safety as well as the safety of other road users to alleviate congestion and anticipate traffic jams that result from it. For his part, Yasser Al-Madah, director of protocol and public relations at the Jeddah governorate, said the interim phase centered on trucks going in and out of the city so as not to affect road users. The phase will be under the supervision of the General Administration for Roads and Transportation and the Special Force for Road Security at the main entrances to the city of Jeddah. Al-Madah pointed out that the second phase, which is planned to be implemented within the next three months, will be in cooperation with government and private agencies. For this phase, the municipality allocated eight sites for trucks within the province. He asked contractors, factories and companies to comply with the entry times of trucks according to the provided service. [caption id="attachment_19501" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Traffic moves slowly on a Jeddah road.[/caption] - ARAB NEWS Tuesday 1 January 2013