UAE | Traffic and Transport

Different versions given for unprecedented traffic chaos in Abu Dhabi city

Municipality cites breakdown of crane while traffic police not available for comments

By Binsal Abdul Kader and Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporters
Published: 21:50 June 1, 2010

Image Credit: Abdul Rahman/Gulf News
Motorists negotiate on the inter-section of Najda street in Abu Dhabi Tuesday evening during a traffic jam that affected the whole of Abu Dhabi city.

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Abu Dhabi: The five-hour-long traffic chaos witnessed in Abu Dhabi city on Tuesday evening was caused by the breakdown of a crane passing through the city that blocked an intersection, according to Abu Dhabi Municipality.

It was not clear whether delay in removing the "failed crane" caused the chaos as the municipality did not explain it and senior Traffic Police Officials were not available for comments. However, an Abu Dhabi Police offcial confirmed that no road accidents caused the bottleneck.

The problems began around 5pm and continued till 10pm and many motorists were stuck on the roads for several hours, according to the residents.

The major roads inside the city-Muroor Road, Najdah Street, Hamdan Street, Airport Road, Passport Road, Khalifa Street and Corniche Road witnessed the bottleneck and policemen took over the control of vehicular movement at all the intersections on those roads, motorists said.

A statement issued by Abu Dhabi Munciplality said neither the failure of traffic signals nor any unannounced detours caused the problem. "Traffic signals have been working perfectly and the municipality never make any detours without informing the public in advance," according to the municipality. The breakdown of a crane—which blocked the intersection C 11 near Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank near Najdah street—was the root cause of the problems, the municipality said.

The truck blocked the traffic on that road which caused the bottlenecks on nearby roads inside the city, the statement said.

"We are deeply concerned about the traffic congestion which caused inconvenience to the public. The municipality took immediate action as soon the problem was notified," the statement said.

Traffic Control Centre of the municipality adjusted the green signal to allow the flow of maximum number of vehicles. "We have been coordinating with the Abu Dhabi Police to control the situation". The Municipality blamed the misbehaviour of some motorists for escalating the chaos.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Al Nuaimi, the head of Quick Intervention Unit (QIU) of Abu Dhabi Police, which is responsible for emergency response alone told Gulf News that road accidents were not the cause of the congestion. The QIU could not explain the cause of the congestion as it falls under the responsibility of Traffic Control Authorities of Abu Dhabi Police.

Despite repeated attempts by Gulf News, senior traffic police officials were not available for comments. But a traffic police official on the street told Gulf News that owing to an important event on Yas Island, the Shaikh Khalifa expressway through Saadiyath-Yas Islands was blocked and all the heavy vehicles were diverted through Salam Street .

That caused the bottleneck on the Salam Street which is running through the city, he said. A part of the Corniche Road has been blocked due to the upgrading of certain facilities, also contributed to the bottleneck. Meanwhile, traffic through the Corniche Road was diverted for the movement of some VIPs, he added.

Long-term residents told Gulf News that they never witnessed such a traffic bottleneck in the city during the past two decades.

"I took almost one-and-half hour to drive just one-and-half kilo meter from Muroor Street- Passport road intersection to the corncihe road," said A. M . Latheef, an Indian resident.

"I noticed that traffic lights were working but the policemen were manually controlling the vehicles at the intersections", he said.

"I never witnessed such a traffic block in my 26 years of life in the city," said Latheef who works as a bus driver with an oil company.

Noha Tahan, 45, a Canadian Office Manager said it actually seemed very dangerous to drive. "I'm glad I didn't get into an accident. People even stopped using the traffic lights, instead the cops were on the street to control traffic flow," he said.

Anwar Semaan, 44, a Palestinian businessman said that everyone on the streets was angry and tense.

"Cars were crossing red lights, because the streets were so crowded. Every time you try to take a different route to escape the congestion, you realise that all the roads are blocked" . He said people waiting for taxis were the most unfortunate, because they were standing for a long time, and no taxis could reach them.

"Even the bus route was stopped. At least people in their cars have air conditioning, but the people waiting for public transport were out in the heat," said Semaan.

With inputs from Hiba Haddad, Staff Reporter

Comments (28)

Added 17:17 June 2, 2010

The traffic congestion started at 3pm itself near Pizza Hut traffic signal in front of Meridien Hotel. It took more than 1 hour for me to reach Najda street from TCA. It was 4pm when I reached. It became worse when motorists didn't wait for the junction to be clear at the traffic signal which blocked the traffic flowing from other roads which is the main reason for this chaos & nothing else. Abu Dhabi Police team to be blamed for this chaos. Until 6pm, there were no police people at the traffic signals. That is the main reason they are not commenting. From 3pm till 6pm, where they sleeping? They are very good at fining people for no reason. When the city people really needed them yesterday, they were missing !!!

Anonymous, Abu Dhabi, Egypt

Added 15:41 June 2, 2010

I'm very sorry to add that very few policemen were seen handling the situation. the cars were blocking the way for the other motorists by coming on the highligted junction. regardless of the boards saying DO NOT ENTER JUNCTION ... too add more the trailors, trucks and labor buses were also driving and changing lanes where ever possible. my work station is at 20 min drive n i reached home after 3 hrs.

Anonymous, abudhabi, Pakistan

Added 15:39 June 2, 2010

I think its time for the police authority to take control on the number of cars Abu Dhabi city can take. Take Singapore for an example, they never had rush or traffic because they know how many cars Singapore can accommodate. Its better to restudy the causes of the traffic. Terms and conditions should apply when someone wants to get a driver license or when someone wants to buy a new car. If police department kept continuing issuing driver license or registering cars without limit, the city will no longer can accommodate. Regards,

Mohammad Al Mansouri, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 15:06 June 2, 2010

I was mad yesterday took one and half hour to reach my home in Najda street from Port Zayed. Where in peak hours maximum I take Half an Hour :S

Mohammad Khattab, Abu dhabi, Egypt

Added 14:58 June 2, 2010

Yesterdays incident was unacceptable. There is more logical explanation than a truck blocking the way, the traffic is all over the streets of Abu Dhabi. We have the right to know what really happened yesterday.

Concerned Expat.., Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 14:56 June 2, 2010

I drive more than two hours for 10KM ride, normally it took maximum 15 mnts. It is hard to believe it, there is no particular reason for such traffic jam in all the way inside the city. It is lucky there is enough gasoline there in my car. The authorities should find the exact reason for it and publish it to know the motorists and avoid such incidents in future.

Shasmin, Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan

Added 12:55 June 2, 2010

i would like to add that from my office to my house normally it's just 15min drive yesterday i reached after 3hrs......

Anonymous, AUH, United Arab Emirates

Added 12:53 June 2, 2010

from office to my house it is only aed15 maximum taxi fare, yesterday i paid AED70.25 to be exact. atleast do let us know what exactly happened as we were all effected by the chaos..no need to hide the truth. it was really disastrous day......stressful trip

Anonymous, AUH, Philippines

Added 12:45 June 2, 2010

It actually started at about 4pm in the afternoon because it wa about 4pm when we left Etisalat HO in Electra after office to go home in TCA, and we were stuck on the road for about two hours and we needed to go down far from our place and just walked as the vehicles were no more moving because of too many heavy truckes were on the road. Those trucks should only pass by the main roads during night time to avoid such chaos again.

Anonymous, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Added 12:38 June 2, 2010

This is the first time I have ever seen such a huge traffic crises in Abu Dhabi. Still the reason for the chaos isn't clear. At 5:30 I looked out of the window at Passport Road and there was a bottleneck which isn't usual at that time. It remained till 10 p.m. Later around 7:15 p.m I chose to walk to the electra airport intersection which took me around 20 min which was much better than the expected time of 2 hrs by travelling in a car. Later the traffic policeman chose to remain idle at intersections and left the matter to the motorists. A large quantity of people were using the pavement, looked like a weekend.

Abdul Basit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates