A flying leap

By Gihan Shahine
In the absence of a grand plan, solve problems one at a time. This, at least, seems to be the logic behind Cairo urban development, but some city planners think it's a fatally flawed outlook. Cairo drivers were stunned recently by the unexpected launch of a major road works project to extend the 26 July highway that has wrought havoc on traffic in the city centre.
On 16 January, the section of 26 July Street connecting Al-Galaa Street to the popular district of Bulaq was closed to vehicles coming from downtown and heading for 26 July Bridge. Limiting the traffic on this main artery immediately caused downtown area gridlock and left motorists wondering why they had not been warned that chaos was about to strike.
The new extension will connect 26 July Bridge, which currently ends on 26 July Street at Sultan Abul-Ela Mosque in Bulaq, with the 6 October flyover, where it runs parallel to Al-Galaa and Ramses -- a distance of about 1,600 metres.
Officials at the Ministry of Housing say the LE100 million project will ultimately streamline traffic in the city centre by establishing a single highway running between the 6 October and 15 May flyovers. The connection will provide commuters coming from Heliopolis and Nasr City on the 6 October Bridge with a direct route to Mohandessin, cutting in half what is now at least a 40-minute trip during peak hours.
"The new highway will be a great achievement, because it is likely to ease 40 per cent of traffic in targeted areas in the city centre," Minister of Housing Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman told the press last week. The project is the culmination of 18 months of planning, which took into account future plans for a subway line that will run underneath. But extensive preparations for the extension did not seem to include alerting the public the highway will so dutifully serve.
Another experiment that authorities hope will help unclog traffic has been the transformation of Qasr Al-Aini Street into a one-way thoroughfare running from Giza to Tahrir. Two alternative routes for motorists heading in the opposite direction have been outlined to reach the Corniche from Tahrir Square. A number of other side streets have also been turned into one-way routes to ease traffic in the city centre.
Of course, there's nothing easy about downtown traffic on an average day; perhaps self-discipline is all a Cairene motorist can depend on while negotiating the new routes. Journeys that were already plagued by congestion now take even longer due to convoluted diversions down narrow side streets -- which can be shut down by one lone idling lorry. The lack of adequate signs only exacerbates the problem.
"Driving these days is impossible," spluttered one taxi-driver sandwiched in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Motorists were already losing their tempers, trading insults with other equally irate drivers and complaining to traffic policemen. "Why does the government make sudden moves without any advance planning or warning?" the driver growled. "And then they come and ask us about the seat belts. Well, solve the traffic crisis first, before imposing fines on poor people. People are going crazy because of this traffic."
According to official statements, the construction of the 26 July highway extension will take around 18 months. Motorists will have to wait a year and a half before traffic in one of the most congested areas of Cairo is relieved by the flyover connection and ordinary traffic patterns return to normal. Egyptians are used to waiting for public works projects, but why didn't the government make proper plans to avert a traffic crisis before launching the project?
Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, head of the Cairo governorate's Road Authority, concedes that the extension project was essentially thrust on people, with little coordination among the concerned authorities. "The government rushed into launching the project once the mid-year vacation started, so as not to delay students going to school," Abdel-Aziz explained. "But I admit, it was lack of coordination that caused the traffic crisis over the past few days."
Students will be back at school in a couple of weeks, however, and work on the bridge has only just begun. "True, but the main traffic problems are already behind us now that we have made all the necessary adjustments to streamline traffic," Abdel-Aziz quickly added. He noted that the Cairo governorate has already removed all encroachments from Al-Sabtiya, Bulaq Al-Gadid and Shanan streets, and posted traffic signs giving alternative routes.
Sawsan El-Shorbagi of the Ministry of Housing rejects all claims that the project was launched suddenly. Dismissing claims that traffic problems were the result of lack of coordination between the ministry and the governorate, El-Shorbagi retorted angrily: "We cannot launch a project without the prior approval of the governor, and we all met to discuss traffic plans a day before starting work." Was one day enough to alter traffic plans radically for an 18-month project? "All you need to know is that all the traffic problems are over and that we work hand in hand with the Cairo governorate in complete harmony and without any differences whatsoever," El-Shorbagi said.
Urban planner Milad Hanna, however, is sceptical about the benefits of the 26 July extension. "The highway is not well-planned. It will probably streamline traffic in some areas and congest it in others, as was the case with the new extension of the 6 October flyover," he said. "It's like releasing a large amount of water that will eventually reach a point where only a few drops can pass."
Hanna argued that although the new 26 July highway will cut down commuter traffic by providing a direct route, the end result will be that the traffic jams will be concentrated in the final destinations, still perpetuating the delays the project was meant to alleviate. Additionally, the ease of the commute from Cairo's satellite cities will encourage more traffic coming into the city centre.
On the state of Cairo's city planning, Hanna offered a grim outlook. "In the absence of comprehensive planning, which should be the job of one responsible authority, these kinds of projects will only be a waste of money and plunge Cairo into endless traffic and financial woes."
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