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The second phase of the plan prepared by the company “Khatib and Alami” includes the Ghobeiry – Haret Hreik – Burj Al Barajneh line, and the secondary roads between the Al Harah lines in the east and Bir Al Abd in the west, after each one of them became a one-way route. According to the protesters, diverting the Haret Hreik and Bir al-Abed lines in one direction puts all the pressure on the secondary roads located between them, which are narrow roads and most of their buildings are not equipped with parking spaces, which leads to severe suffocation, while it was more beneficial to recover some roads and reduce some circuits that narrow the streets. And cause traffic jams, including the one created in front of the “Hassanain Mosque” in Haret Hreik.
The union emphasized that the plan was based on “the highest international standards,” noting that “no development project of this level cannot be evaluated on the basis of part of it.” He added in a statement that “the citizen may have to take a longer road, but this will undoubtedly reduce the pressure on the roads, and the objective is to ensure optimal flow on these roads and reduce traffic congestion.”
“We develop a plan according to the principle of existence from what exists,” said Ali Ayoub, one of the plan architects of the “Khatib and Alami” company. He explains: “We try to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in an area between 20 and 21 square kilometers, inhabited by some 900,000 people, and which includes four municipalities (Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Burj Al-Barajneh and Al-Marija), in addition to overlapping with other municipalities (Chiyah, Hadath and Choueifat). ». And he assured Al-Akhbar that “the suburban road network does not absorb the suffocating traffic and cannot serve so many people and cars. And since there is no possibility of widening the roads by removing a row of buildings, for example, or by building new roads and highways despite plans for that, the available option was to take care of the carrying capacity of the existing roads. Therefore, we work on two ideas: the first is to turn the roads into a one-way system, which is adopted in every country in the world. So instead of leaving one line from Haret Hreik to Beirut, two lines will emerge, and the same goes for the Bir al-Abd line, and this improves traffic flow, but that may force some to drive hundreds of additional meters than they are used to. The second idea is the automatic control of intersections 24 hours a day using optical signals. We also experimented with existing bridges and tunnels. Where there is a bridge, we restrict traffic to the bridge just to reduce the pressure on the intersection below it, which is what is currently happening in Musharrafieh. For someone coming from the Mar Mikhael church towards Ghobeiry square they are obliged to follow the bridge, and the same is true for those who take the opposite direction. “
According to Ayoub, these are all “small and inexpensive matters that depend on making the most of existing opportunities.” “It will not radically solve the traffic problem in the suburb, but it will reduce traffic pressure by about 40 percent.”
The objection to the plan, Ayoub attributes to the “confusion that residents faced, since the way they moved in the area changed without being equipped for it.” But gradually everything will be fine at some point.
The director of the Lebanese Academy for International Traffic Safety, Kamel Ibrahim, stated that “success or failure cannot be judged in a plan from its inception, especially when people are used to something they would not like to change, even if it is of your interest “. What must also be taken into account, according to Ibrahim, is that “radical solutions cannot be invented for an area like a crowded suburb of people and cars, and its roads cannot be expanded and there is no public transport there. Thus, the best plans will only improve traffic flow. And he stressed that the success of the plan “depends on the application of the law to the offenders, otherwise the plan will not be feasible and the reality will remain as it is.”
The plan will not completely solve the crisis, but it will reduce traffic pressure by about 40 percent.
The head of the Southern Suburb Municipal Union, Muhammad Dergham, told Al-Akhbar that the plan is “inadequate and subject to change when there are gaps, especially at some junctions and sub-streets.” As for the traffic jams of the last days, “it is not because of the bad plan, but because the citizens did not respond, and some of them resisted and insisted on taking the roads they used in the past, which caused severe congestion”. This is “normal, because people resist everything new.” , Noting that “most people are now engaged, although they complain, and in a few days they will get used to the new paths. We ask our people to give the opportunity to fully implement the plan and not judge it in advance. “
Regardless of the divergence of opinions on the new plan, what is constant is the bad moment of the beginning of its implementation, since it coincided with the end of the complete closure and the opening of schools and the beginning of the month in which many people leave to buy, all without being accompanied by a broad informational-informative campaign. This confusion was added to the launch of the plan before the total completion of the works, since many streets became one-way before the middlemen that divide them in two directions were removed, causing “people to be surprised each”.
410 thousand cars
The suburb’s road plan targets an area whose population ranges from 800,000 to 1 million Lebanese and non-Lebanese, in an area of less than 30 square kilometers.
Every day 250,000 cars enter the suburb.
There are about 160,000 cars in the suburb, an average of one car for every five people.
The cost of implementing the traffic plan is estimated at four billion pounds.
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