Traffic at one of Bahrain’s busiest junctions will be diverted by the end of next month, as work is under way to replace the existing Alba Roundabout with a flyover, said senior officials of the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning.

The (Alba and Nuwaidrat Roundabout Interchange) work is one of the biggest and most important infrastructure projects in the kingdom, bearing a lot of challenges during implementation including the amount of traffic and having many ground services on site, such as electricity, water and gas, they stated.

Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf toured the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Highway revamp location accompanied by Works Affairs undersecretary Ahmed Al Khayyat, roads assistant undersecretary Huda Fakhro, roads projects and maintenance director Sayyed Bader Alawi and the project contractor.

The minister and his delegation received a detailed presentation on work progress, the present and future work phases and how the contractor would handle ground cables existing on the work site, with the option of transferring them to more convenient locations in coordination with the Electricity and Water Authority, Bapco and other service entities.

Also, reference was made to work ban hours during summer and how to make up for the lost time and complete work as per work schedule.

The tour also referred to the phase of traffic diversions on Alba Roundabout location, which is planned to commence before the beginning of August. The space in the middle of the roundabout is to be cleared prior to installing the foundations for the flyover.

Works involves transforming the existing Alba Roundabout into a three-level interchange that consists of a signallised at-grade intersection, a flyover with three lanes in each direction carrying traffic along Estiqlal Highway and King Hamad Highway besides building another one-way flyover with two lanes carrying traffic coming from Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Highway towards King Hamad Highway.

The project also includes transforming the existing Nuwaidrat Roundabout into a two-level interchange, one to be controlled with traffic signals and the other to be made into a flyover with three lanes in each direction taking traffic along Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Highway.

Khalaf said the work also involves revamping and expanding a large part of Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah Highway, Estiqlal Highway, Al Moaskar Highway and King Hamad Highway; up until Avenue 96, limiting entrance and exit along Avenue 96 to certain access points.

Special focus will be given to the reconstruction of Avenue 15 heading south from Nuwaidrat Roundabout besides the new dual road connecting the Ma’ameer industrial area to King Hamad Highway south of Alba Roundabout and also revamping the road leading to the Oil Refinery and the entrances and exits to the Civil Defence and Bapco.-TradeArabia News Service