Sharjah: More than two years after construction began on the much-awaited pedestrian bridges on Ittihad Road and King Faisal Street in Sharjah, residents in the vicinity continue to wait for the crossings to open.

The bridge on Al Ittihad Road near Ansar Mall has been most eagerly awaited, with the lack of safe crossing options making people risk their lives jaywalking on the highway, causing pedestrian deaths.

What is confounding the residents is the fact that the bridge appears to be ready and work on the project seems to have been completed several months ago, but it is yet to open for the public.

“We have been waiting for so long now. The bridge looks ready, I don’t understand why it is not yet open. I don’t know what they are waiting for,” said Izzatallah Nasrullah, a resident of Al Mamzar area.

For the likes of Nasrullah, once the bridge opens, it will just be a couple of minutes’ walk to Ansar Mall and other places in Al Nahda.

“It take 15 to 20 minutes now for me to drive to the other side. Once the bridge opens, it would just take us a couple of minutes to cross over to the Al Nahda side to go to Ansar Mall, LuLu Hypermarket or Al Nahda Park,” said Nasrullah, who lives right across Ansar Mall.

Construction on both the Ittihad Road and King Faisal Street bridges began in mid-2016 and according to the original plan, the crossings were expected to be ready by early last year.

“All the residents on both the sides were so excited when work on the bridge began, but it has become very frustrating now. Specially for someone like me, because I don’t drive and I don’t have any option to go across to the other side other spending money on taxi,” said Mohammad Saleem, who works in Al Mamzar.

The wait has been similarly long for the residents of King Faisal Street, where a bridge has been under construction near HSBC Bank since 2016.

“Work has been going on painfully slowly, with some days seeing no work at all. The bridge seems almost ready, but it has been in this state for sometime now,” said Abrar Sada, a resident of HSBC building.

In February 2016, the Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority (SRTA) announced construction of five pedestrian bridges, including two on Ittihad Road and one each on King Abdul Aziz Road, King Faisal Street and Al Taawun Street.

Though the two bridges are almost ready, the other three haven’t even taken off yet.

More than 35 run-over deaths have been reported in Sharjah in the last couple of years, calling for greater urgency in completing the bridges.

SRTA was not available for comment.