The City Deputy Manager for Public Works Affairs, Mr. Fawzi Mus’ad, recently announced the launch of the second phase of the hugely-promising traffic project, the Shmeisani Junction. The launch came upon the Greater Amman Municipality’s announcement of the detours and closures that it applied on some of the streets in the region.
These detours were defined in coordination with the Traffic Department, and will be enforced all the way through the project.
Mr. Mus’ad said that the detours came as a result of an intensive study defining the number of vehicles using the junction, along with the required corridors. He stressed that the current detours are the most appropriate for the project, and good enough to contain the traffic in the region, provided that citizens do comply with them.
From the technical angle, Mus’ad noted that the junction will definitely serve the area, pointing out to the intensive efforts exerted by the Traffic Department to identify the problems that may arise on the site, especially at the early days of the project, and to place more guiding signs in the streets.
He said that the project will be completed in 21 months, six of which had already elapsed. “The project is huge and important, and it aims at solving the traffic jams in Amman, and to make it cope up with the rising traffic resulting from the construction projects in the area,” he said, adding “Currently, we are handling all the problems and notes that are referred to us to ensure easy flow of traffic.”
According to Mus’ad, the reason behind the traffic jam at the site is that all the vehicles coming from Western Amman are using the closed streets, instead of the detours.
It is worth mentioning that the Greater Amman Municipality has recently started the second phase of the Shmeisani junction project which is considered one of largest junctions ever in Amman.
The City Deputy Manager for Public Works Affairs said the project comprises a tunnel branching out of the current one (Al-Mukhabarat Tunnel) heading towards Al-Amin Street and Ministry of Industry and Trade Street. About 80% of the work was implemented in the first phase, without resorting to detours.
A new bridge will be built linking Prince Shaker Bin Zeid Street with Suleiman Nabulsi Street, along with another bridge between the 4th Circle and Jamal Abdul Nasser Square (Al-Dakhilyah Circle). Two exits will be branching out of the second bridge reaching to Al-Abdali project on both ways.
The new junction will include a third bridge linking traffic from the 4th Circle to Suleiman Nabulsi Street, in addition to a massive roundabout serving the traffic around the junction.
Mus’ad said that Shmeisani project shall address the traffic requirements arising from commercial projects, namely banks and malls, in addition to the traffic ramifications that Al-Abdali project shall effectuate.
“In a way to lessen its effects on traffic, the Municipality has decided to implement the Shmeisani project, costing JD20 million, on stages,” he explained.
The Greater Amman Municipality has called on citizens to comply with the detours and traffic guiding signs, and expressed its understanding of the difficulties that the current situation may cause. It urged the public to show patience and tolerance that will help in completing the project on due date, providing the citizens with excellent solutions in their daily commuting in the City.