Qatar’s Public Works Authority Ashghal will close the stretch of the Corniche road between the Sheraton Doha Hotel and Dafna Roundabout to all traffic starting the afternoon of Thursday, March 13.

Some side roads leading off the Corniche and toward West Bay will also be closed as of 4pm Thursday.

In a statement sent this evening, Ashghal said it will begin laying new asphalt to complete the conversion of both Dafna and Sheraton R/As into signaled intersections.

All closed-off roads are supposed to completely reopen to traffic on Sunday.

Details

For those who still plan to brave traffic in that area this weekend, here are some key points about navigating the diversions:

• Traffic moving on Corniche Street towards Sheraton intersection will be required to turn left on Al Funduq St. and take Omar Al Mukhtar St. and then turn right to access the Diplomatic area.
• Traffic moving from Diplomatic area towards Dafna and Sheraton intersection will be required to turn right as per the map, and then turn left along Omar Al Mukhtar St. to access the Corniche  via Al Funduq St.
• A stretch of road between Dafna intersection and City Center mall will also be closed. Thus, traffic exiting City Center parking will be required to go left (as per the map) and take the road ahead toward Omar Al Mukhtar St., or turn right towards the Diplomatic area.
• Traffic on the Corniche going toward the area of the Ministry of Justice, Doha Bank, Public Works Authority, and Kahraama buildings will need to take a left from Sheraton Intersection (as per the map) and follow Al Funduq St. towards Omar Al Mukhtar St. and then turn right to access these locations.

The months-long construction in the area, which began in January, has caused frustrating traffic jams for many residents. They have been compounded by ongoing enabling works for the Doha Metro on Omar Al Mukhtar St.

If all goes according to plan this weekend, Ashghal points out that its road works will wrap up two weeks prior to the originally planned date:

“Due to the importance of the Corniche Street, as one of the most vital and dynamic arteries of Doha, Ashghal expedited the construction works deploying approximately 60 machines and 600 workers around the clock,” it said.

Beyond the roundabout conversions, infrastructure upgrades have also been carried out on the treated sewage effluent pipes in that stretch of road.

Thoughts?