UAE | Housing & Property

Nightmare scenario: Sleepless in Springs

Resident fumes over noise from road expansion works near her house

  • By Nadeem Hanif, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:01 March 4, 2010
  • XPRESS

  • Image Credit: Xpress /Abdel-Krim Kallouche
  • "They create a tremendous racket and I wake up feeling exhausted", Mary Blackwell

 Dubai: A resident in a gated community says her life has become a nightmare because of the noise from roadworks in the morning, just yards from her house.

British expat Mary Blackwell, who lives in Springs 6, says the noise from digging, drilling and levelling of Spring Drive has resulted in her being woken up early and caused cracks to paintwork in her house needing Dh25,000 in redecoration.

Friday nuisance

Blackwell told XPRESS that on Fridays it starts at 6.15am. She said: "The work has been going on for two years now to increase the number of lanes on the road and it's just resulted in dust and noise for residents."

Her house sits at the entrance to her Spring's cluster, which means most of the noise is directed at her home.

"They create a tremendous racket and I always wake up feeling exhausted," she said.

Two weeks ago she contacted the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and was told the contractor Al Naboodah is not supposed to work on Fridays.

A spokeswoman for the RTA said: "Work is not permitted on Fridays. The project should be completed by the year-end. If the contractor continues work on Friday he is issued fines and the resident can inform the RTA should there be work done on Fridays."

Comments (3)

  1. Added 08:54 March 7, 2010

    Iman, I know the feeling. I also live in Al Barsha, and we have a building site across the road from us as well as the Metro station which is still being built. We’re unable to keep our balcony window open to enjoy the lovely weather because of the dust.

    Esso, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 12:31 March 4, 2010

    It’s a nightmare! I live in Al Barsha and I have been living in a construction site for over two years now. On one side of our building, a huge structure is coming up and they also work on Fridays and, on the other side, there is road work that has stopped even before finishing, leaving a mess all around our building.

    Iman, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  3. Added 07:49 March 4, 2010

    How about the dogs barking at night? The dog owners living in Springs should think about this as well. It is difficult for children to sleep at night with dogs barking continuously at night. Small children are scared of the noise. People should also pay attention towards this.

    Anonymous, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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