A stretch of Al Luqta Street near the Qatar National Convention Center and Qatar Academy will be closed for nearly two years as part of the ongoing overhaul of the Dukhan Road, Ashghal has said.

A 1.7km length of the street heading westbound (out of Doha) will be shut to traffic from tomorrow (Feb. 12) for 22 months. This will include the roundabout in front of Qatar Academy which is currently used by traffic to access Education City.

Motorists in the area should expect some delays, as diversions will take traffic instead on to Gharrafat Al Rayyan Street and Al Terhab Street, before re-joining the main road near the Bani Hajer u-turn, the public works authority said in a statement.

Traffic heading eastbound (into Doha) is not affected by the works, it added.

The works are part of Ashghal’s Dukhan Highway East, a new arterial route between Dukhan and central Doha.

This involves reconstructing 11km of the road from Bani Hajer to Slope Roundabout to create four lanes in each direction, upgrading the service roads and constructing seven multi-level interchanges to improve traffic flow on the route.

The project, which began in October 2011, is expected to take until next summer to complete.

A separate package of works had been undertaken to another stretch of the Dukhan Road – Dukhan Highway Central – which opened in July 2014.

That 9km route between Al Rayyan stadium roundabout and Al Shahaniya improved the road to create an eight-lane highway with hard shoulders and service routes.

Cycle lanes and two camel underpasses were also installed.

Will these works affect your commute? Thoughts?