Final phase of Emirates Road widening project is over

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.