Muscat: For the first time in Oman, the Ministry of Transport will open traffic on the newly constructed road of Al Sharqiyah Expressway, that features two tunnels for vehicles, crossing the mountain range between Samail industrial area and Al Jardaa intersection.
In a statement issued online, Ministry said: “The road stretches from Samail Industrial area to Al Jardaa intersection, with total length of 24 Km.The 246 Km long Al Sharqiyah expressway consists of two three-lane roads on each side of the tunnel, at a designed speed limit of 120 Km/h, in addition to modern bridges with structural height of to 90 meters that cross the valley corridors.”
“The first 650m long tunnel is located in Nidab, Samail, and the other one was constructed at a distance away from the current route at Wadi Al Aqq with a 1450m length, With 90 Km/h speed limit allowed within the tunnels, in line with global safety and security standards and those tunnels are inclusive of relevant safety and security tools.”
“Given the fact that those developments are recent and that road users in Oman has only recently dealt with tunnels, the following security and safety measures must be highlighted.
“In the event of any emergency, temperature detectors will activate automatically, sound and light alarm will go off to prevent entry to the tunnels, Sprayers will extinguish fires while fans push smoke to car exists,” the Ministry added.