FIFA World Cup Transportation And Design Planning – Doha, Qatar

Parsons was hired by Qatar’s Public Works Authority, more commonly known as Ashghal, to provide transportation planning services for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. A team of Parsons experts was seconded to Ashghal to form part of the designated Ashghal World Cup Team. The team worked with key stakeholders, including The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Ministry of Interior Traffic Police, the Ministry of Transport, and Mowasalat (Kawa), to make important decisions regarding transportation planning, infrastructure design, and transportation operations for the World Cup. This also enabled them to accommodate the high movement of fans and visitors safely and smoothly at events and stadiums.

Leveraging Technology

Technology played a huge role in the success of the FIFA World Cup by providing the team with the insight and metrics needed to evaluate, plan, and implement an effective Transport Management Plan and Vehicle Access Strategy. During the event, the team supported the monitoring and recording of live transportation operations, which included everything from pedestrian and traffic movements to metro and bus operations and parking. The team also developed software programs to help automatically transpose live traffic movement data into readable traffic modeling files that reduced the time and resources required to forecast traffic delays and operations. 

Ashghal’s implementation of technology enhancements, such as traffic signal queue detection systems and pedestrian detection systems, enhanced road safety and optimized traffic signal operations across the city. This live transportation data was used at the Ashghal and in the Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Operation Control Rooms. This enabled them to make quick and efficient operational decisions with support from the Parsons team. 

What Services Did We Provide?

Traffic Impact Assessment Study

We developed a traffic model to forecast and assess how different road closures would impact Doha’s road network. This became a transportation management plan that we implemented at the event. By using previous World Cup data on daily travel profile assumptions, the team optimized the accuracy of the model forecasts to predict the number of vehicle trips across the network successfully. We also provided support to Qatar Airways to help plan their staff road transport operations during the event.

Master Planning And Design

The Parsons team helped design of over 30 bus malls to serve the stadiums and bus hubs within the city. Additional tasks included the planning and designing of car parking sites and five park-and-ride sites. These provided over 20,000 spaces utilized by over 280,000 vehicles. We also developed masterplans and designs of three temporary fan accommodation sites, providing over 10,000 rooms for fans.

A Historic Success

According to a poll by the BBC, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is the best world cup of the century. We are proud to have contributed to this event and also to the first World Cup in the Middle East.

Learn More

We’ve not only imagined the future of transportation—we’ve realized it. We are leaders in providing advanced traffic management systems (ATMS) and other intelligent transportation solutions (ITS). With over 100 cutting-edge global deployments, our systems connect over 63,000 devices, including more than 12,000 traffic signals, that monitor, manage, and control the efficiency and safety of the world’s roads. Learn more.