THIS TOOLKIT WAS PREPARED BY UPON THE REQUEST OF CENTER OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE IN HAJJ AND UMRAH AT UMM AL QURA UNIVERSITY This document was prepared by a team of academicians and professionals which included: Dr. Isam Kaysi Dr. Amer Shalaby Eng. Yasmine Mahdi Eng. Fadi Darwish The document benefited from valuable comments and earlier work by: Dr. Abdulrahem Al Zahrani Dr. Hamed Al Bar Dr. Saad Al Gadhi Dr. Suleiman Al Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al Badawi Dr. Jamal Abdul'aal Dr. Hatem AbdulLatif Eng. Hani Al Naghi Eng. Rania Abou Mrad Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF MAKKAH AND MASHA’ER .............................................................. 3 2.1 Geography ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Population ...................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Administration ................................................................................................................................ 5 2.4 Transportation Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 5 2.5 Regional Road Network .................................................................................................................. 6 2.6 Recent Urban Development Trends ............................................................................................... 8 3. HAJJ AND UMRAH .......................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Islam ............................................................................................................................................. 10 3.2 Hajj ................................................................................................................................................ 11 3.2.1 History ................................................................................................................................. 11 3.2.2 Hajj in Brief .......................................................................................................................... 13 3.2.3 The Process and Rituals of Hajj ........................................................................................... 13 3.3 Umrah ........................................................................................................................................... 20 3.4 Future Outlook of Hajj and Umrah Visitors and City Population ................................................. 20 4. EXISTING TRANSPORT CONDITIONS IN MAKKAH ............................................................ 21 4.1 Road network configuration ......................................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Intercity Road Network ....................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Radial Roads ........................................................................................................................ 23 4.1.3 Ring Roads ........................................................................................................................... 24 4.1.4 Other Traffic Information .................................................................................................... 25 4.2 Pedestrian tunnels ........................................................................................................................ 25 4.3 Parking .......................................................................................................................................... 26 4.4 Mass transit services .................................................................................................................... 26 4.5 Pedestrian flows ........................................................................................................................... 28 4.6 Traffic ............................................................................................................................................ 30 4.6.1Ramadan period ................................................................................................................... 31 4.6.2Hajj period ............................................................................................................................ 33 4.7 Characteristics of Pilgrims ............................................................................................................ 35 ii 4.7.1 Hajj: Personal and Travel Characteristics of Pilgrims .......................................................... 35 4.7.2 Umrah: Personal and Travel Characteristics ....................................................................... 36 4.8 Transport Challenges and Impacts ............................................................................................... 36 5. HARAM EXPANSION PLANS ............................................................................................ 39 5.1 History of Expansions ................................................................................................................... 39 5.2 Third Expansion Plan .................................................................................................................... 40 6. POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKKAH TRANSPORT AND MOBILITY SYSTEMS ........... 45 6.1 Makkah Structural Plan ................................................................................................................ 45 6.2 Future Land Use and Transportation Plans .................................................................................. 51 6.3 Haramain High Speed Rail ............................................................................................................ 51 6.4 Masha’er Rail ................................................................................................................................ 53 7. PLANNED LARGE‐SCALE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN MAKKAH ..................................... 58 8. EXISTING TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN MADINAH & POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS ................. 75 8.1 Geography .................................................................................................................................... 75 8.2 Population .................................................................................................................................... 75 8.3 Transport and Mobility System and Patterns in Madinah ........................................................... 77 8.3.1 Road Network ...................................................................................................................... 77 8.3.2 Public Transport System ...................................................................................................... 79 8.3.3 Madinah Comprehensive Transportation Plan ................................................................... 80 9. OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES ........................................................................... 83 9.1 Main Data Sources ........................................................................................................................ 83 9.2 Available Resources ...................................................................................................................... 84 9.2.1 Data on Planning and Operations ....................................................................................... 84 9.2.2 Hajj Traffic Plans .................................................................................................................. 84 9.2.3 GIS Database on Lodging ..................................................................................................... 85 9.2.4 Network Models .................................................................................................................. 86 9.3 Data Collected Regularly .............................................................................................................. 86 9.4 Previous Studies by Hajj Research Institute ................................................................................. 89 9.5 Previously Published Research ..................................................................................................... 91 iii List of Figures Figure 1: Map of Saudi Arabia ......................................................................................................... 3 Figure 2: Topography of the Haram site and its surroundings ....................................................... 4 Figure 3: Regional Road Network ................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4: Ihram Apparel ................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 5: Schematic of Grand Mosque of Makkah ....................................................................... 15 Figure 6: Venues of Hajj Rituals ................................................................................................... 16 Figure 7: Mina ‐ The City of Tents ................................................................................................. 17 Figure 8: Traffic Jam as Pilgrims Depart Arafat ............................................................................