Qatar’s Public Works Authority Ashghal has begun construction work to redevelop and improve Rawdat Rashid Road, commonly referred to as “the road of death” by some residents due to the large number of fatal accidents that have taken place there.
Rawdat Rashid, which is located west of Doha, will be reworked up to the Umm Qarn area in five phases to “reduce the impact of construction works on residents and visitors of the area,” Ashghal said in a statement.
A spokesperson said a timeline for when the entire project would be completed remains unclear, but construction work on the first two phases are already underway and slated for a 2016 finish.
As part of the project, more street lights will be added to the road, which has been the site of many car accidents, due to its poor lighting and dangerous curves.
The road will also be widened to three lanes in each direction, including a right lane designated for heavy vehicles, to help increase traffic capacity on the road and reduce accidents.
”The project aims at providing a safe and developed road network linking Salwa Road to Dukhan Road and easing the traffic flow around the Rawdat Rashid residential area,” Ashghal said.
Details
The 33km road, which is parallel to Salwa Road, passes through the Rawdat Rashid area before reaching Dukhan Road.
Construction on phase one entails the creation of an 8.5km dual carriageway road with three lanes in each direction near Salwa Road, heading north to entrance of Rawdat Rashid district.
The second phase picks up where phase one ends and includes creating a 10.4km dual carriageway road with three lanes in each direction. It stretches to a new roundabout that will link to a road in Al Shahaniya municipality, past Rawdat Rashid.
“This phase will improve the area by eliminating the traffic flow of heavy vehicles that currently drive through Rawdat Rashed residential area,” Ashghal said.
ALCAT Contracting Company started working on the first phase, while Bin Omran Trading Contracting is responsible for phase two of the project.
Safety concerns
Residents and the Central Municipal Council (CMC) have been calling for the redevelopment of Rawdat Rashid road for at least the last few years.
CMC member Mohammad Zafer Al Hajri previously told Al Arab that the narrow road is only 8m wide, and includes two lanes going in opposite directions, without any barriers between them.
He said that this contributes to accidents, especially when cars try to overtake the large trucks and vehicles driving through the road day and night.
Ashghal had initially announced that the development of Rawdat Rashid Road would start in 2014 and end in 2015.
Thoughts?
As Eddie Izzard used to say: “Roads don’t kill people, it’s maneuvers” 🙂
“Road of Death” = “Road of Natural Selection,” or “Road of Strategic Thinning of the Gene Pool?”
There was some research on driving done about a year ago and I think published here, which found that amongst many locals, especially younger ones, the “Inshallah” attitude to being killed prevails. Each to his own, but please can I be left be left out of your absurd idea?
A fate based belief system is not only common in Qatar but many other countries around the world. It is a considerable challenge to road safety professionals as drivers genuinely believe they are not masters of their own destiny. This is why see different road campaigns here, focusing on the guilt of leaving your family without a provider for example. There are also studies on western campaigns and their effectiveness in fate based societies, and usually they are not effective at all, especially highly graphic images. Death is also very different here, home you will see families on the front page grieving and pouring scorn on the irresponsible driver, a useful road safety reminder to the community. Papers drum up community campaigns and awareness. But that isn’t part of culture here, so it’s almost like a silent problem. Authorities know there is a huge problem with young local male fatalities, white expat drink driving and general poor driving skills but no one wants to really talk about it the open and be accountable. Not even police follow the road rules and act as good citizens and mentirs! It’s sad, really sad.
It took me 10 years living here to fully understand the “I have no control over my fate” mentality and its malign effects on peoples’ driving. It’s very similar to where I live in the USA, the Gulf Arabs there are by far the most dangerous and boastful drivers. In fact, that’s what they are best known for.
the only problem is that most of the time, i think it will be the non idiots that are being killed…
Please attach map to understand the location
I think you’re too young for this decision…whatever the reason, please reconsider.
Ha!
Best comment so far :)))
On google maps it’s the yellow highway (west of Doha) connecting Salwa Road to Dukhan Hwy (passes through Rawdat rashed which is labeled)
ok, thanks
It’s not parallel to Salwa Road as described here. It extends roughly north-south from Al Shahaniyah (Camel Race Track) junction on the Dukhan Road to the Aqua Park junction on Salwa Road. By my reckoning, that is more perpendicular than parallel. #grammarnazi 🙂
I’ve driven down to the border a few times on that road and it didn’t seem dangerous.
To be fair though I was driving a car at the speed limit, and not doing double the speedlimit in a LandCruiser on balloons.
Where’s the fun in that? :)))
There’s only one “road of death”?
They should have 3 layers of roads, 1 for people who can’t drive, 1 for people who can drive and 1 for cyclists and pedestrians 🙂 I would definitely enjoy my own dedicated floating road where I can cycle and overlook all the crashes