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Life in the slow lane for Iraq’s gridlocked traffic
By Agence France-Presse
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BAGHDAD —
Five years ago, Iraqi taxi driver Osama Mohammed would make about six trips a
day across Baghdad. Today, traffic is so bad he feels lucky to do three.اضافة اعلان
“The first thing you see in the morning is traffic jams,” said 40-year-old Mohammed, describing his “exhaustion” at the stop-and-go traffic he endures across the sprawling capital.
It has become so bad that he now often turns down fares.
“It is better to forget about it because you will spend two hours on the road,” he said. “Your day will end in traffic jams.”
An Iraqi policeman directs traffic in the streets of the capital Baghdad on May 31, 2022.
Experts point at many reasons for the growing chaos: a post-war mini boom has brought more people and more cars, while the war-battered infrastructure has barely changed.
Security checkpoints still add to the gridlock, a legacy of the years of war and sectarian conflict when Baghdad was rocked by frequent car bombings.
Most importantly, political paralysis and a state sector hobbled by widespread corruption have snarled road and rail projects that could bring relief.
In a city of eight million, the number of vehicles has surged from 350,000 before 2007 to over 2.5 million today, said Baghdad municipality spokesman Mohammed Al-Rubaye.
The research group Future of Iraq estimates that the fuel each vehicle wastes daily by idling in Baghdad traffic jams is equivalent to driving 20km.
The problem intensifies air pollution in a country already struggling with more frequent sandstorms, a trend linked to climate change, and blistering summer heat that peaks above 50°C.
Legacy of war
Baghdad’s roadside concrete blast walls may have largely gone, but decades of war have left a legacy of pockmarked roads and dilapidated infrastructure.
The country suffered through the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the US-led invasion in 2003, years of sectarian fighting and the battle against Daesh terrorists who were finally defeated in 2017.
Since then, entire new neighborhoods and high-rise buildings have sprung up, such as the futuristic new central bank headquarters designed by the firm of late Iraqi-British star architect Zaha Hadid.
The relative stability has accelerated domestic migration, particularly an influx of laborers from the impoverished south.
But the capital still lacks a robust public transport system, with no trains or trams and only infrequent buses.
A metro rail system would “reduce congestion by 40 percent”, Rubaye estimated, but for now this is a distant dream.
One such project was envisioned in 2011 with French firm Alstom. And in 2020 a letter of intent was signed to develop a 20km 14-station elevated metro system.
Some $45 million has already been spent on the project plans, according to former Baghdad governor Faleh Al-Jazairi, but with no visible impact so far.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
“The first thing you see in the morning is traffic jams,” said 40-year-old Mohammed, describing his “exhaustion” at the stop-and-go traffic he endures across the sprawling capital.
It has become so bad that he now often turns down fares.
“It is better to forget about it because you will spend two hours on the road,” he said. “Your day will end in traffic jams.”
An Iraqi policeman directs traffic in the streets of the capital Baghdad on May 31, 2022.
Experts point at many reasons for the growing chaos: a post-war mini boom has brought more people and more cars, while the war-battered infrastructure has barely changed.
Security checkpoints still add to the gridlock, a legacy of the years of war and sectarian conflict when Baghdad was rocked by frequent car bombings.
Most importantly, political paralysis and a state sector hobbled by widespread corruption have snarled road and rail projects that could bring relief.
In a city of eight million, the number of vehicles has surged from 350,000 before 2007 to over 2.5 million today, said Baghdad municipality spokesman Mohammed Al-Rubaye.
The research group Future of Iraq estimates that the fuel each vehicle wastes daily by idling in Baghdad traffic jams is equivalent to driving 20km.
The problem intensifies air pollution in a country already struggling with more frequent sandstorms, a trend linked to climate change, and blistering summer heat that peaks above 50°C.
Legacy of war
Baghdad’s roadside concrete blast walls may have largely gone, but decades of war have left a legacy of pockmarked roads and dilapidated infrastructure.
The country suffered through the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the US-led invasion in 2003, years of sectarian fighting and the battle against Daesh terrorists who were finally defeated in 2017.
Since then, entire new neighborhoods and high-rise buildings have sprung up, such as the futuristic new central bank headquarters designed by the firm of late Iraqi-British star architect Zaha Hadid.
The relative stability has accelerated domestic migration, particularly an influx of laborers from the impoverished south.
But the capital still lacks a robust public transport system, with no trains or trams and only infrequent buses.
A metro rail system would “reduce congestion by 40 percent”, Rubaye estimated, but for now this is a distant dream.
One such project was envisioned in 2011 with French firm Alstom. And in 2020 a letter of intent was signed to develop a 20km 14-station elevated metro system.
Some $45 million has already been spent on the project plans, according to former Baghdad governor Faleh Al-Jazairi, but with no visible impact so far.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
