underpass/circle at the end of Mecca Street
Having just written a blog about the waste of water at the new circle and underpass at the end of Mecca Street it was interesting to read the following letter in the Jordan Times. I spoke to the Head of the Traffic police and he said it is so difficult when the designers of roads and circles do not take traffic and policing into consideration. It just means he is having to put more police in an area where he should not have to. T
'Dangerous and unbecoming’
An efficient, elegant underpass/roundabout complex was just put to good use, off Mecca Street, to make life for motorists easy and delightful.
Or at least that was the intention.
Unfortunately, a rapid, potentially dangerous intersection of lanes that should have expedited traffic and made it smooth has become a picnic area for citizens whose cars line the circle on either side and whose children, often unsupervised, find the aesthetically pleasing water installations the appropriate place to splash or throw stones in. In order for them, and the strolling grown ups, to reach the water, they step, with no respect for nature and the work of others, all over the freshly planted greenery.
Why would people choose such a highly trafficked place to breathe fresh air, when a few metres away, specially oraganised for this purpose, is the King Hussein Garden – away from harm’s way, from speeding cars and from spewing oil fumes?
Why don’t officials - police officers, more precisely - forbid cars from parking around the circle and people from leisurely crossing lanes, blocking the traffic?
It is a many-lane highway, for Pete’s sake, not a garden. It is meant for cars, not for nonchalant pedestrians. It is dangerous and unbecoming. Instead of solving the traffic problem, these people make it worse.
Hassan Wahbeh
Amman
14 July 2008
'Dangerous and unbecoming’
An efficient, elegant underpass/roundabout complex was just put to good use, off Mecca Street, to make life for motorists easy and delightful.
Or at least that was the intention.
Unfortunately, a rapid, potentially dangerous intersection of lanes that should have expedited traffic and made it smooth has become a picnic area for citizens whose cars line the circle on either side and whose children, often unsupervised, find the aesthetically pleasing water installations the appropriate place to splash or throw stones in. In order for them, and the strolling grown ups, to reach the water, they step, with no respect for nature and the work of others, all over the freshly planted greenery.
Why would people choose such a highly trafficked place to breathe fresh air, when a few metres away, specially oraganised for this purpose, is the King Hussein Garden – away from harm’s way, from speeding cars and from spewing oil fumes?
Why don’t officials - police officers, more precisely - forbid cars from parking around the circle and people from leisurely crossing lanes, blocking the traffic?
It is a many-lane highway, for Pete’s sake, not a garden. It is meant for cars, not for nonchalant pedestrians. It is dangerous and unbecoming. Instead of solving the traffic problem, these people make it worse.
Hassan Wahbeh
Amman
14 July 2008
posted by joladies at Monday, July 14, 2008
1 Comments:
Funny, El 3atal and I made the exact same observation. Although, I have to say, if you make the plan include seating and water, you're fairly beggin for people (who literally will picnic on a median)to come there. After all, have the designers ever BEEN to the second circle in the evenings? It's picnic central...
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