THE ROAD TO ANGST

SENIOR traffic officers have urged 'school run' parents to keep calm and make extra time for their journeys to Isa Town as a major roundabout is converted to a traffic signal-operated junction.

Office workers, school bus drivers and teachers are also asked to avoid the 'go-slow' area that leads up from Sehla to Salmabad and Isa Town for the first few weeks of the new school term if possible and find alternative routes.

On-going road work on one of the busiest junctions in the kingdom is expected to create snarl-ups at peak times where the intersection feeds traffic coming from Manama, Budaiya and Sitra and leads to several secondary schools, Bahrain Training Institute, Bahrain University, ministries and offices in Isa Town.

GulfWeekly watched as Captain Mohammed Khalil and his team of two lieutenants, three officers and volunteers helped introduce order at the busy junction as the traffic lights were switched on and then off for a spell last week.

Braving the blistering heat, the officers did their level best to efficiently channel the traffic when authorities decided to throw open the barricaded Salmabad roundabout and try out the newly-installed traffic signals at 10am on Wednesday.

Drivers were taken by surprise over which lane to get into before the main road split for different destinations.

A lack of adequate road markings and clearly marked-out lanes were blamed for the confusion which led to vehicles queuing at least one kilometre down to Sehla and waiting for around 40-minutes for traffic to move.

Surprisingly, an hour later there were no pealing horns or shaking fists.

Instead many drivers accepted the delays and were optimistic that the snarl-up was a temporary phase.

Pick-up van driver Johnson of Al Shaheen Group from Jiddali, who had been stuck for over half-an-hour, said: "We have seen what happened at Salmaniya roundabout and then at the Andalus roundabout. Once signals are in place and drivers get used to them everything will work out fine."

Abdulla Mohammed, from Riffa, who works for Gulf Air and had been stuck for over 20 minutes, voiced the same opinion.

He said: "Inshallah, this will be over soon. I'm sure the traffic signals will eventually make all the difference."

Two lanes have been closed to carry out underground work and complete the major traffic re-construction work on the junction.

Project manager Sreekumar of the Haji Hassan Group said: "There is a lot of work but we will be working day and night. We have to remove the asphalt, make a road base, put down concrete, pave roads and complete other associated works such as drainage, looping, covering manholes and getting the traffic signals to work."

Captain Khalil added: "We are trying to efficiently redirect traffic to help in completing the construction work. The work may take up to three weeks. In the meantime, it is advised that people try and take alternative routes to reach their destinations around Isa Town."