Municipality reports improvement in traffic at 8th Circle; motorists complain

AMMAN — Traffic flow on Saturday, the third operational day of the 8th Circle traffic lights, was the best so far, according to a Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) official.

Around 6,000 cars enter the 8th Circle at peak hours in the morning and afternoon, while the area’s capacity is 4,000 vehicles, which used to result a “traffic failure”, Riyad Kharabsheh, head of transport and traffic planning at GAM, said.

Asked whether traffic movement at the location was smooth due to the fact that Saturday is a day off, he said the weekend had nothing to do with it, since families go out shopping and motorists head to the nearby industrial area to have their cars fixed.

The traffic lights did not reduce the number of cars at the location, but they are designed to better organise the flow at the intersection, Kharabsheh noted.

“The traffic lights are also meant to guarantee pedestrians’ safety and increase car capacity at the location,” he told The Jordan Times, explaining that traffic lights in general can handle more cars than roundabouts.

The official also said that feedback from GAM cadres at the location indicates that the traffic light timings are good, but motorists need some time to get used to the new situation.

“All traffic lights in Amman are connected to the municipality’s central control room, but those on the 8th Circle have not yet been linked,” Kharabsheh noted, expecting the connection to be ready within 10 days.

The connection will enable GAM personnel to control the traffic lights in a better way, in terms of readjusting timings on the three-phase lights as necessary, the GAM official highlighted.

He also expressed hope that when construction work at the Sinaa Intersection project in the industrial area finishes, traffic flow will improve at the 8th Circle intersection.

The project, work on which started late 2014, will take 485 days to finish, according to GAM.

Responding to a question about complaints regarding long queues of cars waiting to cross the intersection, Kharabsheh pointed out that “before installing the traffic lights, drivers used to move at a speed of five to 10 kilometres per hour during jams, but now they [only] think they are delayed because they have to stop till the lights turn green.”

But some Amman residents disagreed, and took to social media outlets to express their frustration over the installation of traffic lights.

“Now you can finish any mobile game... you want, while waiting at the 8th Circle; I thought people were kidding about it, but now I found out that it’s true,” Issa Al Nasser wrote on his Facebook page.

“Half an hour in jams... What a traffic light!” Facebook user Motaz M Aljzzazi quipped.