Qatar Museums Authority and Ashghal, the Public Works Authority, have commissioned French Tunisia graffiti artist eL Seed to decorate four tunnels on the newly-expanded Salwa Road, as construction there stretches behind schedule.
EL Seed specializes in “calligraffiti” – a mixture of street art and Arabic calligraphy, and has done outdoor public works recently in Tunisia and South Africa. He’s also previously offered Calligraffiti workshops at the Museum of Islamic Art.
He’ll be painting the tunnels over the next four months, and keeping the public updated with photos and video on the site eL Seed in Doha.
eL Seed inspecting one of the tunnels last October (Credit: QMA)
The public art commission is part of the Salwa Road redevelopment project, which is expanding the highway to four lanes on each side. Considered Phase 7 of the QR15bn ($4.1bn) Doha Expressway project, all 13 phases across Doha are slated for completion in 2015.
The Salwa Road phase, which expands the 6.9km of road from Al Asiri Interchance (Midmac Roundabout) to Industrial Interchange at a cost of QAR1.59bn ($436m), was supposed to be completed by December 2012.
Ashghal has since said it expects the project to be finished in mid-2013. The Gulf Times newspaper predicts an April 2013 opening, which would put the duration of the construction at nearly two years. The delays have been attributed to the scale of the project and previously, the intense summer heat.
The next phase of the Doha Expressway project will tackle the stretch of Salwa Road from Al Asiri Interchange to A-Ring Road (passed the Radisson Blue Hotel on C-Ring, The Centre shopping complex, and the Jaidah flyover).
Credit: Top photo courtesy of el Seed
