(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Sanaullah Ataullah |The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: All new road project designs will have pedestrian and cycling tracks to promote non-motorized mode of transportation and micro-mobility options like bicycles and e-scooters, said a top official.
“All road project designs are being made taking into consideration pedestrian and cycling tracks. So, all new designs which are being implemented will have these two tracks,” said Acting Director of Land transport Network Planning Department in the Ministry of Transport (MoT) Saleh Saeed Al Marri.
Speaking to Al Rayan TV recently, he said that MoT recently conducted a survey on cyclists to improve the integration of cycling tracks with intersections or give access to other modes of transportation.
He said that a large-scale field survey was conducted as part of stage 2 of the project of updating the Qatar Bicycle Master Plan (QBMP).
“The survey was based on the Qatar National Vision 2030, and according to the vision of MoT to build a safe, sustainable, environmentally friendly transportation system that supports the national economy according to the outcomes of the comprehensive transportation plan which was launched by Minister of Transport in 2022,” said Al Marri.
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He said that are a number of elements that must be focused on pedestrian tracks according to the outcomes of the comprehensive transportation plan and previously approved study for bicycles must be updated.
“The study aims a set of goals including encouraging citizens and residents to use bicycles, raising the level of traffic safety, improving the infrastructure for bicycle facilities and micro-mobility options, in addition to improving the regulations and laws associated with them, these were the main factors,” said Al Marri.
He said that the project for updating the bicycle master plan is being implemented in seven phases.
“The first phase was collecting data which was available at the Ministry of Transport and its strategic partners of concerned authorities and to analyze it,” said Al Marri.
He said that the second phase is a field survey to take feedback from cyclists and users of micro-mobility means to know their experiences and collect data.“The other phases will focus on identifying the areas to work out more as the experiences of users are most important for making improvements,” said Al Marri.
He said that one of the major challenges for cyclists is hot weather and climate and they have to learn how to live with this.“The increasing traffic safety level encourages cyclists.
Moreover, the integration of cycling tracks with other means of public transportation and improving it through giving safe access at intersections and connecting roads promotes are needed to incorporate in the policies and legislations,” said Al Marri. Qatar reached an advanced stage in term of providing the necessary infrastructure for pedestrian and cycling tracks.
The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) developed a total of 2,131km of pedestrian and cycling tracks between 2013 and 2022. The country also has shared pedestrian and cycling tracks on the eastern side of Al Khor Road along 38km, integrating with the Olympic Cycling Track on the western side of the highway.
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