SIGNS TO BE MOUNTED: "SLOW DOWN -- MY FATHER STONES HERE" MINA, SAUDI ARABIA - Only days after a tragic stampede that killed 363 people, Saudi Arabian Interior Spokesman Mansour al Mansour announced that the Saudi government has accepted a bid from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to improve the orderly flow of pilgrim traffic through the heavily-traveled Al-Jamarat corridor leading to three pillars that pilgrims stone to purge themselves of sin. "If there is anybody in the world that can slow people down, it's Penndot," said al Mansour. The Al-Jamarat corridor has long been known as "the death stretch" by the thousands of pilgrims who stampede through the area during Hajj rush hour. To accomplish the slow-down, PennDOT will place orange barrels in symmetrical positions on both sides of the corridor in order to "create the illusion that construction is occuring, like PennDot does in Pennsylvania," said al Mansour.
Penndot will also mount a number of signs throughout the corridor to increase safety awareness. One of the signs reads "Slow Down -- My Father Stones Here." Penndot officials said work on the Al-Jamarat Corridor project is scheduled to begin in 2020. Completion is scheduled for spring of 2035.
See related story: 363 KILLED IN STAMPEDE THAT BROKE OUT DURING ANNUAL STONING RITUAL; 512 KILLED IN STONING THAT BROKE OUT DURING ANNUAL STAMPEDE RITUAL
