Dubai: The completion rate of Dubai Canal has touched 33 per cent and all phases of the project are on schedule, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced.
Work on all three phases of the Dh2 billion project is under way simultaneously, with flyovers getting ready on Shaikh Zayed Road and Al Wasl Road.
RTA has put in place the second stage of traffic diversion on Al Wasl Road and Al Hadiqa Road to make room for the new flyovers planned on the roads.
“Work is continuing in the construction of the Dubai Water Canal project according to the timetable set, and completion rate in the project has so far touched 33 per cent. Work includes opening a main traffic diversion on Al Wasl Road with the same number of lanes as the existing road, besides widening Al Bili Road to make it a dual carriageway to divert traffic there instead of Al Athar Road, which will be partially closed,” said Maitha Bin Udai, CEO of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency.
She added that a service road will be provided to serve the local traffic through Al Baqqara Road.
Interestingly, the traffic signal at the junction of Al Wasl and Al Athar roads has been abolished and replaced by a new traffic signal at the intersection of Al Wasl and Al Bili roads.
The boundary walls of Safa Park have been pushed back from Gate One all along Hadiqa Street to Al Wasl Road, to make way for the detour.
Traffic from both directions on the existing road has been shifted to the detour, allowing for a flyover to be built on the existing road. The flyover will connect to the bridge that is currently under construction on Al Wasl Road.
The detour will also see the traffic junction near the Union Cooperative move north by a few metres.
The road works are part of the diversion plan to allow the construction of a bridge on Al Wasl Road that will see the Dubai Canal flowing under it.
Al Wasl Road has already seen detours over the past six months, with traffic moving away from the old tracks, where the bridge is being built.
“Arrangements are in hand for constructing alternative roads to Al Hadiqa Road to enable the smooth construction of bridges on Al Hadiqa Road. The diversion will be fitted with all traffic safety means such as signals, directional signs with cautionary lights, street lights and concrete barriers to enhance the protection and separate the traffic movement from project works areas,” said Maitha.
She added that work on constructing bridges on Al Wasl Road is in full swing, along with laying of utility lines.
“Work on laying utility ducts underneath the course of the proposed Canal on both sides of Al Wasl Road has already been completed, along with the protection and shifting of utility lines underneath the traffic diversion. In parallel with these diversions, construction works of bridges on Jumeirah Road are set to start, and work is currently under way in preparing layouts of traffic diversions of Jumeirah Road which are expected to start next July,” she said.
The Dubai Canal project is expected to be completed by mid-2016, including the 16-lane flyover on Shaikh Zayed Road, as well as the flyovers on Al Wasl and Jumeirah roads.
Currently, work on all three phases of the canal project is being carried out simultaneously, with excavation of the canal under way inside Safa Park.
The prestigious development, which was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in October 2013 will see the extension of the Dubai Creek by three kilometres, turning Bur Dubai into an island ringed by the Creek water on three sides and the Arabian Sea on the fourth.
