Dubai: Major diversions on Shaikh Zayed Road will begin by year end as part of phase one of the Dubai Canal project, Gulf News can reveal.
Work on the proposed three-kilometre long Dubai Canal project has been under way since September 2013 and will be carried out in three phases.
Phase one will involve the relocation of underground utility lines from the area and building of a 16-lane flyover on Shaikh Zayed Road.
The diversions on Shaikh Zayed Road will be designed to allow for the construction of the 16-lane bridge that will span the proposed canal, while at the same time ensuring free flowing traffic.
Although the bridge will cover a distance of 550 metres, the diversion on Shaikh Zayed Road will stretch for one kilometre starting just after the Al Safa Salik Gate and extending till the second Interchange. Rising up to 8.5 metres, the flyover will allow luxury yachts and boats to pass under it.
“Our idea is to maintain the capacity of the road, so the speed limit and the number of lanes will remain the same. The traffic on both directions will be only slightly diverted but the movement of traffic will continue to be free flowing,” said Nabeel Mohammad Saleh, director of Roads of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
The RTA has worked out a comprehensive diversion plan for the city’s busiest motorway that will include building six additional tracks on the landscaped area adjacent to Shaikh Zayed Road.
“We will build six temporary tracks on the western side of Shaikh Zayed on the landscaped area opposite Al Mazaya Centre and Emarat Atrium. Traffic heading towards Abu Dhabi will be diverted to the temporary tracks and traffic heading towards Sharjah will be shifted to the tracks that currently serve traffic towards Abu Dhabi,” Saleh said, explaining the diversion plan.
Once the diversion is in place, which will be by the end of this year, work on building the first half of the 16-lane bridge will begin on the side that currently serves traffic towards Sharjah.
Once the first half of the bridge is completed, traffic towards Sharjah will be moved on to the bridge and work on the second half of the bridge will begin in the area that currently serves traffic towards Abu Dhabi.
The temporary tracks will continue to serve the traffic towards Abu Dhabi during the construction of the second half of the bridge.
The diversion work will begin once the relocation of electricity and telecom cables, as well as water and sewage pipelines, from the project area is done.
Currently, work on the relocation of utilities is under way, leading to detours in most of the Al Safa area.
The canal, once completed, will connect the already extended Dubai Creek from Business Bay to the Arabian Sea, cutting across Shaikh Zayed Road, Safa Park, Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road.
Construction work on the Dh2 billion project is being undertaken by Turkish construction firms Mapa and Gunal.
In phase two, which is expected to start in April 2014, work on construction of two bridges of six lane each will be built on Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road.
Diversion plans to make way for the construction of these bridges are still not available, but Saleh told Gulf News that RTA will ensure that traffic is affected to the minimum.
Phase three of the project is expected to begin by June 2014 and will involve excavation of the canal.
The excavation work will begin inside Safa Park and will move to both directions once the flyovers are ready.
Al three phases are expected to be completed at the same time by September 2016.
