Amerat-Bousher mountain road – Boon or bane

Despite the government’s efforts over the years to build more roads as a solution for the growing number of traffic jams in the capital, one road in the capital has remained dangerous over the years – Amerat-Bousher mountain road – which needs efficient and proper road safety measures.

A number of accidents have occurred on this road taking the lives of some people and injuring many others. With this in mind, commuters are calling for a permanent solution which, many say, an alternative road and a tunnel is required to connect the two wilayats – Amerat and Bousher.

According to commuters, the road has become a lifeline which has supplemented to Wadi Adei road which had seen traffic congestion in the past. “Whenever, there is accident of Amerat-Bousher road or there is rain, the road is temporarily closed leading to traffic congestion in Wadi Adei-Amerat road. There is a need for a permanent solution, one of which, I feel, a tunnel connecting Amerat to Bousher is ideal. I request the authorities concerned to consider the tunnel just like the newly opened Wadi Al Aq tunnel,” Mubarak al Dhawi, Amerat resident who uses the road daily to connect to the expressway, said.

Others feel the same road with some alterations and adding more safety measures can suffice. “The portions that are so steep can be re-routed with the new road. There is a need for proper planning with the addition of more road safety measures. In my view, the road needs to be conditioned for reconstituting if a tunnel is not a possibility,” Salim al Musallami, Bousher resident, said.

In the past, a number of major accidents occurred on the road including the one involving a truck and a car, in which one person died. This is in addition to two Asian men who died in an accident on the same road when a water tanker they were travelling in from Amerat lost control after colliding with a car coming from the Bausher side.

Some injuries have also taken place, including eight people who were seriously injured in a road accident after a bus overturned on the same road in the past.