21 - 27 June 2001
Issue No.539
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 June 2001 Issue No.539 |
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Will it work?
In preparation for the opening of the Al-Azhar tunnel, officials are experimenting with a new plan to streamline traffic in the city centre. Gihan Shahine wonders whether tunnelling under the Fatimids is the answer to Cairo's endemic traffic ills
Chaotic is perhaps the best way to describe the Al-Azhar district at the moment. Cars, bumper-to-bumper, battle with pedestrians for space; street vendors are everywhere and Fatimid monuments are suffering the double onslaught of heavy traffic and encroaching workshops.
New artery -- but how long before it's clogged?
In light of this situation, going 20-35 metres underground might be viewed as an effective solution to escape the congestion. And such an option will be available to exasperated motorists in October when the 2.6- kilometre Al-Azhar tunnel is scheduled to be inaugurated. Linking the Al-Azhar district with Opera square, the tunnel is part of a comprehensive plan to transform Fatimid Cairo into an open-air museum. Once the tunnel is opened, cars will be forbidden from the Al-Azhar area and the Al-Azhar fly-over will be dismantled.
But will the tunnel unclog traffic congestion in the heart of Cairo, or will it only reconfigure the pattern and location of traffic jams? Officials are unfailingly optimistic when this question is posed, but many urban planners are sceptical about the outcome of the LE825-million tunnel project.
Following a two-year study, the Cairo Governorate completed an extensive plan -- part of which has already been implemented -- to keep traffic moving in the area. The plan includes routes for large vehicles, widening streets by removing run-down buildings, making some streets one-way, constructing a multi-level parking lot and two tunnels for pedestrians.
Public buses and vehicles more than four metres high, which will be forbidden from using the tunnel, have been assigned alternative routes to the areas connected by the tunnel. Dilapidated buildings along the northern and southern parts of El-Gamaliya Street will be removed to increase the street's capacity.
Towards transforming some streets into one-way thoroughfares, an experiment took place this week to restrict El-Geish street to motorists heading from Bab El-She'eria to Ataba Square. And in two weeks, part of 26 July Street will also be made a one-way route for motorists going from Opera Square to Ramses and El-Gala'a streets.
An underground multi-storey garage in El- Darrassa is being constructed to accommodate 500 vehicles. And for the benefit of pedestrians, two tunnels are being built beneath Adli Street and El-Ezbekiya Park to ensure their safety at the entrances and exits of Al-Azhar tunnel.
The irony of these plans is that the tunnel was originally touted as the solution to traffic problems in downtown Cairo.
"That's the point: the authorities are seeking a remedy for the flawed idea of building the tunnel, which is likely to wreak havoc on the flow of traffic downtown," complained Sherif Kamel, former head of the Urban Planning Authority. Many urban planners and NGOs had similarly protested the construction of the tunnel, but failed to capture officials' attention. "Logically, the tunnel cannot accommodate the huge number of vehicles currently using Al-Azhar Street and the fly-over. Motorists will probably get ensnared in gridlock entering and exiting the tunnel," Kamel said.
As the tunnel comprises two lanes in each direction, Kamel contended that "one accident or a car breakdown will be enough to clog the tunnel."
Not so, said Rifqi El-Qadi, head of the Cairo Traffic Engineering Department. He insisted that detailed studies show that the tunnel "will definitely streamline the flow of traffic," in the area. "The tunnel will allow vehicles to move at a speed of 50 kilometres per hour, instead of the current average of 16 km/hr," El-Qadi explained. "This will allow the tunnel to accommodate the traffic anticipated to be passing through the area, that is approximately 2,200 vehicles per hour."
Mohamed El-Nazer, head of the tunnel's operation control centre, boasts of the tunnel's high-quality design and safety precautions. A security system controls the tunnel entrance and exit; cameras and road signs will be installed and there will also be traffic data and fire-control systems. The tunnel will be monitored for flames, smoke, temperature, carbon dioxide emissions and wind speed. An electricity generator will power these systems in the event of a power outage.
There will also be a wireless alarm system and an emergency telephone network. The control centre will be linked to the nearby civil defence authority, ambulance service and fire station, while police vehicles will be stationed in side lanes and on call around the clock.
El-Nazer explained that the tunnel has the latest ventilation technology; beyond dealing with regular exhaust levels, its shafts are equipped to remove excess exhaust fumes caused by traffic jams or smoke -- in the event of a fire -- and pump in clean air. "The tunnel is also equipped with cranes and side lanes to avoid traffic jams resulting from car breakdowns and accidents. Emergency exits and escalators are also in place for additional safety," he added.
Abdel-Latif El-Sherif, who is in charge of the Al-Azhar tunnel project, said that the tunnel "will not only relieve 75 per cent of traffic congestion in the area but also fulfill its primary objective of giving Fatimid Cairo a long-overdue facelift."
It will help preserve Islamic monuments in the area, he added, by decreasing vehicle vibrations and the emission of carbon dioxide, which affect the foundations of buildings.
According to Abdallah Abdel-Aziz, head of the urban planning committee of the Scientific Research Academy, internationally, tunnels have been a more effective solution than fly-overs -- aesthetically and environmentally -- as the latter are an eyesore and a major source of sound and air pollution.
And yet, in the absence of a comprehensive transportation plan for Greater Cairo, Abdel-Aziz argued, tunnels and fly- overs are "piecemeal projects" that merely improve traffic in one area, only to worsen it in another.
"They are also a waste of funds," Kamel said. "Studies should have first examined the possibility of easing traffic by offering alternative routes to Al-Azhar Street. The tunnel and pedestrianisation of Al-Azhar were not in the original UNESCO plan to turn Fatimid Cairo into an open-air museum."
The tunnel, many agree, will increase the flow of traffic into the city centre. "The true answer to traffic congestion in the area was to establish an underground metro line there, but the authorities scrapped the plan when they found that it was unprofitable," Kamel added. "But is building a tunnel profitable?"
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