Abu Dhabi: Finding one’s way around the capital and its various locations is getting progressively easier, with 99 per cent of all buildings now featuring numbered plates to identify them.
In addition, 1,283 unique street names have been approved for the city’s 6,739 streets, and these are now marked by 1,336 newly installed signboards, the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City announced in a statement on Monday.
The statement added that the municipality is quickly working to complete the emirate of Abu Dhabi’s addressing and wayfinding system, titled Onwani. The system, which was launched by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT) in 2013, is expected to make emergency responses and deliveries smoother and quicker, while also helping residents and visitors find locations more easily.
Many neighbourhoods in the capital are already fully marked by new signboards featuring the unique street names, including Al Bateen, Al Nahyan, Al Bahya and New Al Falah areas.
All island highways are also identified with their unique names, and 65,674 buildings have been fitted with their numbers. In addition, 11,594 columns have been set up to mark internal streets.
At the same time, the inclusion of route numbers for major thoroughfares has also been greeted by residents, who say that it makes wayfinding simpler than when just street names are used to mark successive paths. These route numbers are visible on signs affixed to traffic lights in the capital.
Odd numbers are used to identify streets stretching from the northwest to the southeast across the city, starting with Route 1 for Corniche Road up to 31 for Al Dhafeer Street. On the other hand, even numbers are used for vertical routes, starting with 2 for Khalifa Al Mubarak Street in Al Bateen area up to 24 for Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Street (previously known as Al Salam Street).
All signs also include the QR code, which can be scanned using the Onwani app to be shared with others, or to detect a location’s coordinates.
