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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Saudi Arabia
Index
Saudi Arabia's extensive transportation system was almost
completely built in the four decades following 1950. In that
year, the country had no railroads, about 200 kilometers of paved
roads, and no adequate air facilities. Most localities could be
reached only by gravel roads or tracks interspersed with a few
airstrips for small airplanes. By 1991 the country boasted an
excellent system of expressways, paved roads, and airports that
linked all the populated areas of the kingdom
(see
fig. 7).
Figure 7. Transportation System, 1992
Highways constituted the backbone of the Saudi transportation
system. In 1991 there were about 100,000 kilometers of roads,
35,000 kilometers of which were paved. The country's chief route
was the Trans-Arabian Highway, a multilane expressway that
crossed the peninsula from Ad Dammam to Jiddah, passing through
Riyadh and Mecca. Other expressways connected Jiddah with Medina,
extended north from Ad Dammam toward the Kuwaiti border, and
ringed the capital and Jiddah. Paved roads linked all other major
urban areas. Paved roads crossed into all of Saudi Arabia's
neighbors except Oman and a causeway connected with Bahrain. The
Saudi Public Transportation Company, partly owned by the
government, operated a fleet of more than 1,000 buses that
provided regular service both between the country's cities and
within them.
Railroads were only a minor element in the country's
transportation system, and rail service was only reestablished in
the early 1950s after a four-decade hiatus. The Ottoman Turks
built the first railroad on the peninsula, the Hejaz Railway
linking Damascus with Medina. Parts of this railroad were
destroyed in World War I, and the line was abandoned. In 1951 a
571-kilometer, 1.435-meter standard-gauge rail line was built
linking Ad Dammam to Riyadh. A second, shorter line between
Riyadh and Al Hufuf was built in the early 1980s.
The Hijaz/Wadi Hanifah junction is an example of the modern
Saudi highway system.
Courtesy Saudi Arabian Information Office
Causeway to Bahrain under construction; it was completed in
1986.
Courtesy Aramco World
Arabsat tracking station, Jabal al Ali, in northern Saudi
Arabia near Jordan
Courtesy Aramco World
Riyadh television tower
Courtesy Saudi Arabian Information Office
Because of the country's position as exporter of petroleum,
ports played a major role in the transportation system. Jiddah
was the kingdom's principal port, handling almost 60 percent of
the goods moved by sea in 1988. Ad Dammam, serving the country's
oil fields in the east, was the second-largest port for imports
whereas Ras Tanura handled a major part of Saudi Arabia's
petroleum exports. Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf and Yanbu north
of Jiddah, both of which were connected to large industrial
complexes, were somewhat smaller. Jizan near the Yemeni border in
the south was a lesser port serving the Asir agricultural region.
Numerous harbors on both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea served
the fishing and coastal transportation sectors.
Large distances between urban areas and difficult terrain
have made air travel an essential complement to Saudi Arabia's
road network. In 1991 there were sixty-nine airports with paved
runways. The country's three largest airports, King Abd al Aziz
International in Jiddah, King Khalid International in Riyadh, and
Dhahran International (King Fahd International in Ad Dammam was
under construction, scheduled for completion in 1994), had large
modern terminals, runways capable of handling large airplanes,
and regularly scheduled international flights. The country
counted more than 19 million air passengers in 1985, many of them
pilgrims en route to Mecca. Saudi, the national airline, offered
domestic service to more than twenty cities and an international
network to almost four dozen destinations in Africa, Europe,
Asia, and North America.
Data as of December 1992
Transportation
Saudi Arabia's extensive transportation system was almost
completely built in the four decades following 1950. In that
year, the country had no railroads, about 200 kilometers of paved
roads, and no adequate air facilities. Most localities could be
reached only by gravel roads or tracks interspersed with a few
airstrips for small airplanes. By 1991 the country boasted an
excellent system of expressways, paved roads, and airports that
linked all the populated areas of the kingdom
(see
fig. 7).
Figure 7. Transportation System, 1992
Highways constituted the backbone of the Saudi transportation
system. In 1991 there were about 100,000 kilometers of roads,
35,000 kilometers of which were paved. The country's chief route
was the Trans-Arabian Highway, a multilane expressway that
crossed the peninsula from Ad Dammam to Jiddah, passing through
Riyadh and Mecca. Other expressways connected Jiddah with Medina,
extended north from Ad Dammam toward the Kuwaiti border, and
ringed the capital and Jiddah. Paved roads linked all other major
urban areas. Paved roads crossed into all of Saudi Arabia's
neighbors except Oman and a causeway connected with Bahrain. The
Saudi Public Transportation Company, partly owned by the
government, operated a fleet of more than 1,000 buses that
provided regular service both between the country's cities and
within them.
Railroads were only a minor element in the country's
transportation system, and rail service was only reestablished in
the early 1950s after a four-decade hiatus. The Ottoman Turks
built the first railroad on the peninsula, the Hejaz Railway
linking Damascus with Medina. Parts of this railroad were
destroyed in World War I, and the line was abandoned. In 1951 a
571-kilometer, 1.435-meter standard-gauge rail line was built
linking Ad Dammam to Riyadh. A second, shorter line between
Riyadh and Al Hufuf was built in the early 1980s.
The Hijaz/Wadi Hanifah junction is an example of the modern
Saudi highway system.
Courtesy Saudi Arabian Information Office
Causeway to Bahrain under construction; it was completed in
1986.
Courtesy Aramco World
Arabsat tracking station, Jabal al Ali, in northern Saudi
Arabia near Jordan
Courtesy Aramco World
Riyadh television tower
Courtesy Saudi Arabian Information Office
Because of the country's position as exporter of petroleum,
ports played a major role in the transportation system. Jiddah
was the kingdom's principal port, handling almost 60 percent of
the goods moved by sea in 1988. Ad Dammam, serving the country's
oil fields in the east, was the second-largest port for imports
whereas Ras Tanura handled a major part of Saudi Arabia's
petroleum exports. Al Jubayl on the Persian Gulf and Yanbu north
of Jiddah, both of which were connected to large industrial
complexes, were somewhat smaller. Jizan near the Yemeni border in
the south was a lesser port serving the Asir agricultural region.
Numerous harbors on both the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea served
the fishing and coastal transportation sectors.
Large distances between urban areas and difficult terrain
have made air travel an essential complement to Saudi Arabia's
road network. In 1991 there were sixty-nine airports with paved
runways. The country's three largest airports, King Abd al Aziz
International in Jiddah, King Khalid International in Riyadh, and
Dhahran International (King Fahd International in Ad Dammam was
under construction, scheduled for completion in 1994), had large
modern terminals, runways capable of handling large airplanes,
and regularly scheduled international flights. The country
counted more than 19 million air passengers in 1985, many of them
pilgrims en route to Mecca. Saudi, the national airline, offered
domestic service to more than twenty cities and an international
network to almost four dozen destinations in Africa, Europe,
Asia, and North America.
Data as of December 1992
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