Work is progressing well on the Alba & Nuwaidrat Interchange Revamp Project in Bahrain, with all concrete works already done and 43 per cent of the job at Alba’s single way flyover completed.

A vital project, Alba & Nuwaidrat Interchange Revamp Project, is being funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, as part of the Gulf Fund Programme, said a statement from the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning.

The construction of Alba’s at-grade intersection at the roundabout boundaries has already started and is now about 16 per cent completed, it stated.

Being one of the most strategic projects for the kingdom, the ministry is keen to develop the roads network in the area as it is witnessing growing commercial and investment activity, together with a number of industrial facilities adjacent to the project, remarked Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning Essam bin Abdullah khalaf.

Accompanying the Minister were Road Projects and Maintenance director Sayyed Bader Alawi, and a number of engineers from the ministry, together with the project consultant Parsons and project contractor Nass Contracting.

He was speaking after a conducting inspection at the Alba & Nuwaidrat Interchange Revamp Project site.

Due to the increasing delay for traffic coming from King Hamad Highway towards Alba Roundabout; resulting from traffic diversions at work location in September last year, the Works Ministry in January 2017, in collaboration with the Traffic General Directorate, opened an exit from King Hamad Highway towards the Refinery Avenue and on to Alba Roundabout (passing through Avenue 15), to ensure smooth traffic movement.

The project is witnessing temporary and necessary traffic diversions; associated with the construction of flyovers along Alba Roundabout and King Hamad Highway,. said Al Khalaf.

Traffic diversions are to continue until May 2018. Once completed, the project will ease traffic congestion in the area. The project site currently witnesses a traffic movement of over 100,000 vehicles per day, he added.

The minister said the nature of the work taking place on a large space within the project, as well as the high traffic volume, results in inevitable traffic congestions along any mega project implemented along strategic roads and highways.
 
As a result, the ministry has adopted a strategy of interim launch of the different phases involved in the implementation of the project.

Under this arrangement, each part is opened for traffic once completed; aiming to ease the vehicle flow, said Al Khalaf.

"For example, the Ministry opened the right lane for traffic coming from Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah Avenue towards Estiqlal Highway, which contributed to easing traffic congestion and reducing waiting time," he added.-TradeArabia News Service