jahKUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works announced yesterday the partial opening of 1.75km of service road on the Jahra Road Development Project. The opening commences after the intersection of Jahra Road with Al-Jahez Street and ends near to the United Nations Roundabout in the direction of Jahra.

Furthermore, there will be changes to the current detour - those wanting to go to the hospital area must take the right exit immediately after the traffic light at the intersection of Al-Jahez, and enter into the Islamic Medicine Center (IMC). Additionally, the exit of IMC will be closed and road users will need to take alternative routes within the hospital area to exit onto Al-Jahez Street or Jamal Abdul Nasser Street.

However, road users wishing to go towards Jahra or the United Nations (UN) Roundabout should continue straight for a few hundred meters after the Al-Jahez intersection traffic lights, keeping left to continue at-grade to the UN Roundabout, or keeping right to continue onto the mainline bridge.

Engineer Ahmad Al-Hassan, the Assistant Undersecretary for Road Engineering Affairs at the Ministry of Public Works, commented: "This particular area of the project has seen great progress over the year with the opening of 4 km's of mainline and service road in January, and this partial service road opening in the opposite direction."

"The roads have been clearly marked with directional signs and for the safety of all, we ask road users to take extra caution, especially in the first few days while people familiarize themselves with the new traffic patterns in this area. As for the reaming parts of the project, work is continuing as per the contract and road users can expect to feel a smoother flow of traffic," he went on to explain.

"The Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Traffic have been working closely with us, and inspections have been carried out to ensure that all safety standards and necessary opening procedures have been met. As always, we seen to ensure minimal disruption and the opening of this service road took place early Monday morning. Road users can expect a number of significant improvements on the Jahra Road as we plan for more openings this year," added Yasser Boudastour, Project Engineer at the Jahra Road Development Project.

This mega project involves the construction of 17.7 km of viaducts (7.3 km of mainline Jahra Road, 2.4 km of bridges on linked roads and 8.0 km of ramps), including a trough at the 2nd Ring Road intersection, 10 pedestrian bridges, and service roads. The Jahra Road project also includes major service and utility relocation and works.