Ministry rejects appeal to close busy Adliya streets

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI
A REQUEST to close off two roads connected to a busy Adliya high street has been rejected by the government.
Residents submitted petitions to the Manama Municipal Council calling for the closure of a one-way street leading to the Criminal Investigation Directorate and another that leads to Al Abraaj Restaurant.
They said that closing the roads would help reduce traffic congestion on Osama Bin Zaid Avenue, which is home to a number of shops including Al Jazira Supermarket.
The council forwarded the idea to the Works and Housing Ministry, but the ministry rejected it after reviewing traffic flow in the area. The avenue is also known as "Love Road" and is notorious for drivers who cruise up and down it in their cars.
"The road sees traffic jams throughout the day and we wanted to close the connecting streets to ensure that cars don't make turns and just keep driving straight," said area councillor Jaffar Al Qaidoom.
Mr Al Qaidoom said an average of 40 cars enter the avenue from the Ferrari Centre traffic light at one time during the day and 46 at night, according to a study by the Traffic General Directorate.
"Traffic from the Fuddruckers traffic light sees an average of 28 cars during the morning and 48 cars at night at one time," he said yesterday.
"However, in a letter Assistant Under-Secretary for Roads Essam Khalaf, said the number of cars was small and there was no need to make any improvements to the road.
"He said cars using the road to Al Abraaj during the morning are 12 cars at one time and in the evening 44, something that is not really worth the whole fuss of closing those two streets."
Mr Al Qaidoom, who is also vice-chairman of the council's technical and services and public utilities committees, said residents were still unhappy even if the ministry thought it was not important.
"Why bother to send continuous petitions if this issue was not of importance to the residents," he said.
"The ministry should reconsider its decision and take into consideration the plight of residents there, who are suffering a lot of the traffic jams and congestion all day."