A view of traffic on a lane of February 22nd Street. PICTURE: Nasar T K
Inset: Dr Khalifa Nasser al-Khalifa, director, QRSSC.
The Qatar Road Safety Studies Centre (QRSSC) at Qatar University’s College of Engineering is in the process of creating a computer simulation of the congested February 22nd Street in order to find out how the planning and design issues could be resolved.
“We are trying to identify the entrances, exits and capacity on this vital street, which has planning and design issues,” QRSSC director Dr Khalifa Nasser al-Khalifa said.
February 22nd Street is an integral part of Qatar’s first freeway, the QR15bn Doha Expressway project launched by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in 2007.
The February 22nd / Al Amir Street Interchange, which opened to traffic in June 2010, comprises phases one and two of the project, spanning a 6km, three-lane dual carriageway between Gharrafa Interchange and Asiri Interchange.
It was the severity of congestion on this street that prompted the Traffic Department to launch in September last year a helicopter patrol to give guidance to cops on the ground during the rush hours.
Being a part of Al Shamal Road, which links Doha to the extreme north of the country, February 22nd Street is the most preferred route of motorists coming to the capital city from the northern side and vice versa and hence one of the busiest.
“The problem with February 22nd Street is that it was established when the country’s population was lower than it is now and the future increase in population was not taken into account,” Dr al-Khalifa told the Qatar University Research Magazine.
If Qatar’s population touched 1.8mn by growing more than 18% at the end of December 2012 compared with the population during the same period in 2008, the figure breached the 2mn mark in September 2013. The country has seen a proportionate rise in the vehicle population.
Given the statistics from 2012, as many as 5,138 new vehicles were registered in Qatar every month on average. This number would have increased now, considering the augmented pace of developmental activities in the country. The total number of registered vehicles in Qatar stood at 876,039 in 2012 compared to 814,373 in 2011.
“It is worth mentioning that Ashghal and other government institutions are currently evaluating all options to overcome the complications of February 22nd Street,” said Dr al-Khalifa who is also the chairman of the research committee in the National Committee for Traffic Safety (NCTS).
He believes that Qatar’s infrastructure, including roads, will develop in the next five to six years and fulfil the requirements.
“But for the time being, we are facing serious traffic issues, which include poorly planned roads, congestion and accidents,” the academic pointed out.
The QRSSC was established in September 2012 as a national facility to address traffic safety, a universal problem that is a major concern in Qatar.
The QRSSC primarily works on research studies to achieve traffic safety and hence co-operates with entities such as the Ministry of Interior, the Public Works Authority, the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning, and public transport provider Mowasalat.
The current collaboration agreements of the QRSSC are mainly with the NCTS, chaired by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani.
“The centre is strongly represented in the committee and as a national think-tank, we are striving to become the research arm for the committee and provide it with all the required traffic research,” Dr al-Khalifa added.
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