More than 400,000 additional vehicles expected on Amman roads in summer

AMMAN ­­­­— More than 400,000 additional vehicles are expected to be roaming Amman during the coming holiday season, prompting officials to work on traffic plans to ease the customary traffic jams in the capital, a Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) official and a senior traffic officer said on Thursday. 

Mohammad Faouri, director of joint management at GAM, said the high season usually starts between June and September. 

“GAM and Central Traffic Department (CTD) will be deploying vehicles to ensure smooth traffic flow in the capital during the coming period,” Faouri told The Jordan Times over the phone on Thursday. 

Faouri said a package of “traffic solutions” will be implemented ahead of the summer holiday, in which hundreds of thousands of expatriates return home from abroad, especially from the Gulf countries. 

“We will install traffic lights on Istiqlal Street and we will carry out improvements to main roads. Also, GAM has transformed many plots of lands it owns into parking lots to try address the lack of parking spaces in the capital,” he added. 

The municipality official added that GAM would also carry out a campaign to regulate the valet service to render it more effective, which will also contribute positively to solving the problem of parking spaces.

He noted the shopping centres and areas including Jabal Al Hussein and Suweifieh are the main hub for the capital’s visitors. 

Meanwhile, CTD Director Col. Bassem Kharabsheh expecting the number of visiting vehicles  to exceed 400,000, due to the situation in the region. 

“Jordan will be their main destination. We expect that most visitors will come from the Gulf,” he told The Jordan Times on Wednesday. 

He noted that the CTD is also holding a campaign to make sure that the traffic law is enforced to ease traffic congestions.