Abu Dhabi: The introduction of new street names in Abu Dhabi will be accompanied by a comprehensive awareness campaign that is due to begin by the end of 2015, senior municipal officials have said.
The campaign will reach out to residents, motorists, taxi drivers and other categories of road users in a bid to familiarise them with the names assigned under Onwani, Omar Al Shayba, director of property and GIS at the Department of Municipal Affairs, told Gulf News.
“The outreach will also acquaint people with the QR codes, and how to use them to get around Abu Dhabi easily,” Al Shayba said.
As reported by Gulf News in 2013, the QR codes are an essential new feature of the Onwani Addressing and Wayfinding Project, and will allow for smarter navigation while also providing essential historical and background information.
Further details on the campaign, and training programmes for taxi drivers, are expected to be announced later this year.
When Gulf News pointed out that some residents and taxi drivers say that the new names create further confusion about addresses, Al Shayba said that there is no real challenge in learning the new names and using them.
“The outreach efforts will further ease people’s use of the new names,” he added.
Earlier this year, officials from the Department of Transport had also said that the revised street names would be incorporated into their wayfinding smartphone application, Darb. Although older names for the roads are displayed, they will gradually be phased out.
According to official figures held by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, there are currently 7,458 roads in the capital. Of these, 28 are categorised as main roads, which are large and see greater traffic volumes. The rest are divided between internal roads, service roads, farm roads and cul-de-sacs.
The capital city is also divided into 120 districts, each comprising a number of streets and main roads. Examples include Al Zahia, Markaziyah and Al Mushrif. Al Shayba explained that these district names would be retained under Onwani.
No cost estimates for the project have yet been revealed by officials.
