Kamal Amer axis closes towards Moneeb at Bashtil station on 6 and 7 November

Drivers heading through western Giza this weekend should plan around a full closure on the Lt Gen Kamal Amer axis. The Giza Traffic Department will close the road in front of Bashtil train station, in the direction leading to Moneeb, so that contractors can lift the steel beams of a new pedestrian bridge over the axis.

The closure starts at 1am on Friday 6 November and lasts until 9pm on Saturday 7 November, about 44 hours in all. It affects cars coming off the western arc of the Ring Road onto the axis and heading on towards Moneeb and the Ring Road's Moneeb section. The reports cover only that direction; no change was announced for traffic going the other way.

Instead of a long detour, the diversion is short. Cars will turn right onto the main deck of the axis through a new gap cut in the concrete side barrier, drive about 150 metres along the diversion lane, then turn left back into their original direction through a second new gap once they are past the works area. Traffic officers will be posted along the stretch to keep cars moving, and the contractors have been asked to put up signs and warning equipment around the site.

The Kamal Amer axis links Bashtil with Omraniya and Ard El Lewa, and since it opened it has cut what used to be a slow drive across the area to a few minutes. That also makes it busy, and it is not the first weekend closure on the road this year: in May and again in July, traffic police shut it for several hours at its junction with the 26 July axis for monorail works.

If you usually take the axis towards Moneeb on Friday or Saturday, expect the narrower diversion lane to slow things down near Bashtil station, especially in the evening. Leave a little earlier, follow the officers and the signs, and keep in mind that the road is due to reopen fully from 9pm on Saturday. Travellers catching trains at Bashtil station should allow extra time to reach it.