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More Pedestrian Bridges Coming

The Abu Dhabi Municipality will soon start the construction of32 air-conditioned pedestrian crossings in the capital, in a bid to reduce the number of road accidents due to jay walking, a senior municipality official told Khaleej Times on Sunday.

Construction of these foot bridges will commencein the first quarter of 2009 and will be ready in 18 months.

Two bridgeswill be constructed on the Corniche road, one bridge on theArabian Gulf Street and the rest on the other roads which include Electra, Hamdan and Airport (after Maqta bridge).

Abdullah Saeed Al Shamsi, Director of Internal Roads and Infrastructure, Abu Dhabi Municipality, said most of these bridges will be made of metal and will be fitted with elevators to cater for people with special needs and elderly people.

He said these roads were chosen because of high number of fatal accidents due to the big number of pedestrians.

Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, Director of Patrols and Traffic Department, Abu Dhabi, said these projects fall within the framework of the joint Police-Municipality committee which seeks to reduce fatalities.

“From March to November 2008, around 125 persons were run over by cars. The main cause was the mistakes committed by pedestrians such as walking to the other side of the road from places not designated for crossing and the poor assessment of the speed of vehicles coming from the same direction,” he said.

In Dubai, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) officials said the pedestrian crossings project was on.

“A total of 19 pedestrian crossings will come up on different roads by the year end. Some of these crossings have already been installed on the Abu Hail, Abu Baker Siddique, Airport, Casablanca and Beirut roads,” an RTA official said.

“As per the plan, these crossings will come up at the Baniyas (near Dubai Municipality building), Shaikh Rashid (opposite Police Club), Mankhool (near Ramada Hotel), Zabeel (near Post Office), Khalid Ibn Waleed (between Saqr and Saeediya junctions), Hadiqa Safa (opposite Safa Park) and Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed (near Spinneys) roads amongst others,” the official said.

The RTA has also put notices near these crossings cautioning people about the fines if they cross from the undesignated areas.

According to the police records, more than 400 jay walkers were caught at the Deira area alone in November.

Pedestrians caught crossing roads at undesignated places are liable for a Dh200 fine and a repeated offence will see them being referred to the Public Prosecution for suitable action.

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