Traffic congestion near Isa Town should ease from today with the opening of a new junction, which has been the scene of massive tailbacks for months.

Work to replace a roundabout, at a busy intersection, with traffic lights started in March, said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

It is located at the junction of Al Estiqlal Highway and the December 16 Highway, in Sanad, and today's reopening is expected to end months of motoring misery for thousands of drivers who regularly pass through the intersection.

However, final touches will continue to be added even after the traffic lights start functioning.

"Though the traffic lights will be operational, considerably easing traffic bottlenecks, some of the associated works are still continuing," said Works Ministry assistant under-secretary for roads Huda Fakhro yesterday.

The BD2.7 million (7.1 million) project involved replacing the roundabout outside the Central Informatics Organisation with traffic lights, and major road works from the main Isa Town interchange to the Al Hekma International School crossing.

Fakhro said it would be another few weeks until the entire project was finished. "The important thing is that there will be no more traffic chaos," she said.

She revealed that more than 100,000 cars pass through the intersection on a daily basis.

"Around 9,000 vehicles pass through the intersection during the morning rush hour and 120,000 cars use the intersection throughout the day," she said.

Work on the project was undertaken by Bahrain Asphalt and involved rehabilitation of major parts of the highway and installation of pedestrian fences to increase safety.

Meanwhile, a Works Ministry official said work on a BD771,427 project to replace the Palace Roundabout, on the junction of Shaikh Duaij Avenue and Palace Avenue in Gudaibiya, was set to be completed next month.

The project will replace the roundabout with traffic signals and increase the number of lanes - thereby reducing traffic jams in the heavily populated area. The official said the junction was the last in a series of projects to replace roundabouts with traffic signals.-TradeArabia News Service