UAE | Traffic and Transport

Final phase of Emirates Road widening project is over

Motorists using the Emirates Road will now have a smooth ride as a Dh333 million project to increase the number of lanes from three to six in each direction has been completed.

  • By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
  • Published: 15:46 April 8, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Extra lanes on the Emirates Road have helped motorists, but they complain of delays at Arabian Ranches roundabout.
  • Image Credit: Supplied Picture
Image 1 of 2
12

Dubai: Motorists using the Emirates Road will now have a smooth ride as a Dh333 million project to increase the number of lanes from three to six in each direction has been completed.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has completed the third and final phase of its road widening project on a 10-km stretch from Dubai-Al Ain Interchange to the Arabian Ranches Interchange.

With the completion of the third phase, the 32-km stretch of Emirates Road now has six lanes in each direction from the Dubai-Sharjah borders to the Arabian Ranches Interchange. The cost of the project, which started in June 2006, is Dh333 million.

"Emirates Road is one of the busiest highways in the whole region, as it has proved to be a vital inter-emirates traffic corridor," said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA.

He said the widening project would ease traffic on this road which is used by around 20,000 vehicles per hour.

"We have also expanded and improved the entry and exit points of the existing bridges to avoid bottlenecks because the number of users have been increasing due to massive development on both sides of the highway," said Al Tayer.

Work on interchange

The part of the widened road from Sharjah to Al Aweer Interchange was opened last year.

The Emirates Road widening project also included placing concrete barriers in the middle of the road and erecting protective pedestrian fencing.

It also covered modifying the existing bridges at the intersection of Al Ain and Al Aweer Bridges to suit the expansion work. The road-lighting system has been upgraded by increasing the number of poles, and replacing bulbs and cables.

Though motorists have appreciated the widening of Emirates Road, they said that the work should be expedited on the Arabian Ranches Interchange and a new interchange should be built at the Dubai Investment Park roundabout (DIP) near the Green Community.

"Motorists face long delay due to traffic jams at both these roundabouts and the time gained on the wider part of the road is lost here," said Patrick H, a motorist.

He said traffic at the DIP roundabout was particularly bad as it was congested with heavy vehicles queuing up for several kilometres.

  • Rate this article
  • Average reader rating (0 votes) 0 Stars
Tools

Emailing an article to friend is a simple way to share a news item. Your friend will receive an email with your name and email address as well any personal message you choose to send.

The information you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited emails.

This service is not intended to encourage spam, and action may be taken against individuals who maliciously enter personal details of another individual.

Share this article

More from UAE Traffic and Transport

  1. Dubai Airshow: Change in Emirates check-in time

  2. Etihad offers 'double daily' to Frankfurt

  3. Heavy vehicle speed limits may be introduced

  4. Free SMS offer for paid parking in Dubai

All articles in Traffic & Transport

More from UAE

Gulf News
Popular in UAE
Readers' pictures
Your pictures

Readers' pictures

The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week

Latest news
Community Reports

More from Community Reports

Weather

More from Weather