Multi-storey lots to ease parking

Several multi-storey car parks are to be built in the capital by the end of the year, officials announced.

ABU DHABI // Several multi-storey car parks will be built in the capital by the end of the year, officials announced. The municipality and the police will work together on the project, which will also involve rerouting traffic in core districts to ease congestion. Maj Hussain Ahamd al Harthi, the head of the Traffic Engineering and Road Safety Department, said yesterday that the police were working with the municipality to find a speedy solution to the city's parking woes.

Wide areas of traffic islands and commercial and residential complexes with ample parking lots are part of the innovative plans being envisaged. "The cause of the problem is currently being studied and engineers are working towards finding proper solutions that will ease the severe congestion in Abu Dhabi," Maj Harthi said" Authorities are working on improving the situation in 19 different areas of the city, with extra consideration given to the financial district on Hamdan Street.

"Increased traffic police patrols have been assigned to the area and are monitoring movement there while plans are being drawn up to provide more parking spaces in a way that will not add to the problem," Maj Harthi said. "The traffic engineering department is looking into improving the entrances and exits to parking lots and ways of rerouting traffic in commercial areas so that the congestion is eased."

All future commercial and residential developments in Abu Dhabi will have to take parking into consideration, he said. The announcement comes less than a week after the police launched a month-long campaign to clamp down on motorists who illegally park their vehicles. @Email:[e-mail]