Manama: More than 770,000 people used the King Fahd Causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia during the 10-day break in Saudi schools.
“We had to deal with a big rush of people using the causeway during the spring break as 770,672 people used the causeway,” Mualla Al Otaibi, the spokesperson for the passports department in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, said.
“Passport employees had to work constantly to deal with the pressure and ease the movement of people. We had an average of 77,000 people using the causeway every day,” he said in remarks published by Saudi daily Al Eqtisadiya on Monday.
According to official figures, 40,000 people on average cross the 25-kilometre terrestrial link between the two kingdoms a day.
The causeway, the longest in the Arab world, was opened in November 1986 by the late King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and the late Emir Shaikh Eisa Bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain. It is today one of the busiest traffic areas between Arab countries.
Drivers who use the causeway pay a 2 Bahraini dinar (Dh19.2) or a 20 Saudi riyal (Dh19.5) fee, but no charges are imposed on passengers, regardless of their numbers.
Authorities in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have recently issued statements about increasing the number of lanes for cars, buses and trucks to help deal with traffic congestions, particularly during the weekends and holidays.
Several Saudi nationals and Saudi Arabia-based foreigners who work or study in Bahrain commute daily while a large number of Bahrain-based expatriates and Bahrainis use the causeway daily to go to their work or universities.
The causeway is also used by trucks, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, heading towards Bahrain to deliver or load products.
Queues of long vehicles are often seen at the entrance or exit of the causeway.
In December, Saudi Arabia’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) in a searing report said that a probe it had conducted revealed that the absence of traffic patrols, especially at peak hours, was among the major reasons for delays suffered by drivers and passengers as they attempted to use the causeway.
However, the traffic police rejected the findings, saying that they had “nothing to do with the congestions at the causeway” and that “the passports department was in charge of the matter.”
Badr Bin Abdullah Al Ataishan, King Fahd Causeway Authority director-general, said that 14,345,840 people and 6,207,938 vehicles used the causeway in 2011.
