UAE | Traffic and Transport

Welcome to Sharjah-Dubai traffic battleground

There is no let-up in traffic congestion. And despite all the projects announced, or even completed, the traffic is only getting worse.

  • By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter
  • Published: 00:17 June 23, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • 7:20am - Al Ittihad Road
  • Image Credit: Gulf News
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There is no let-up in traffic congestion. And despite all the projects announced, or even completed, the traffic is only getting worse.

Motorists continue to suffer in traffic as it takes at least four hours for a round trip between Sharjah and Dubai during peak hours. Authorities from both emirates insist that motorists use alternative routes but all of them are choked with heavy traffic.

Traffic congestion is getting worse despite all the measures being taken to ensure smooth traffic flow.

The expansion of roads and the new road networks have proved to be insufficient as they fail to keep pace with the rapidly increasing population and the number of vehicles.

Other initiatives taken by authorities including the Salik toll system have not made any difference rather it has led to traffic snarl-ups on Salik-free roads.

Traffic congestion is also taking its toll on people's health and their performance in the workplace.

According to official statistics, the number of vehicles increased by more than 100 per cent in Dubai during the last four years from 415,242 to 853,827. More than 1.2 million vehicles including those registered in other emirates and neighbouring GCC countries travel on Dubai roads every day.

The average occupancy is just 1.7 person per vehicle in Dubai. Currently, only 6 per cent of the total population uses public transport. School transport constitutes around 18 per cent of peak hour traffic.

Vehicles in Dubai take about 3.2 million trips a day, which is expected to increase to 14.1 million trips a day by 2020.

It has become difficult to get out of Sharjah during morning peak hours and it is equally frustrating to enter Sharjah because of the inadequacy of the road network to cope with the heavy flow.

The traffic situation within Dubai and Sharjah emirates has also worsened. Crossings such as Al Maktoum Bridge and Al Shindagha Tunnel remain choked most of the time.

Gulf News' photographers monitored all the major roads linking Dubai and Sharjah only to find there is no escape from the traffic congestion.

Do you think the traffic congestion has increased despite road expansion projects? How long do you spend on an average in traffic everyday? How has it had an impact on your lifestyle? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form bellow to send your comments.


Your comments


Sharjah and Dubai should become child-free. That way we can get rid of the horrible school traffic and the school bus drivers who cut on hard shoulders endangering everyone, including our kids. And Dubai landowners can be a little less greedy and give reasonable rent prices so that some of the Sharjah population can move to Dubai and spread the traffic across.
KJ
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 15:34

They should consider constructing a 20-lane bridge over the sea, with toll payments, between Sharjah and Dubai.
Jiten
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 14:22

Lower the rents, open the Mamzar filter road, provide proper public transport services and remove all bottle necks ... Will this ever happen? Salik on every road into Dubai, or out of it, is not going to help as it would simply mean going back to square one again. The only difference being that we would be paying for being stuck in traffic!
Stephen
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 14:15

The fate of many of us relies on the RTA's transport re-organisation. Should they go for more buses with reasonable timings of 15 minutes, then the majority will opt for the public transport, thus easing the roads congestion.
Caroline
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 13:41

Why not create one special lane in which one only cars with at least 4 pasengers on board are allowed?
Romano
Ulm,Germany
Posted: June 23, 2008, 13:39

1. Open the closed Mamzar road from Sharjah. 2. Let Sharjah Police come to supervise, we hardly see them 3. Impose heavy fine on lane cutting in al Mulla plaza area 4. We think we can reach Mumbai early other than travelling from Dubai to Sharjah during peak hours.
Manoj
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 08:12

Government has to give notice to every company in the Dubai to provide transport facilities for every employees staying in Sharjah. This should be made compulsory. Only then it will be easy.
Bejoy
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 08:09

I am working in Jebel Ali Free Zone and my office timing was 8 till 5 p.m. But due to increased traffic and health issues I have requested management to reconsider my timing and now it is 7 till 4.p.m. which is of great help. Companies should promote free timing for the staff to escape from this.
Jagadeesh
Jebel Ali,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:33

The man reason for the traffic between SHJ and Dubai is due to the very high rents in Dubai. Due to the high rents people are forced to move to Shj, Ajman and even further. Due to the recent rules of Dubai to evacuate some area for construction and also the rule of one family per house more people have started moving to Shj and Ajman and there is no capacity for improving the roads infrastructure.
Jacob
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:29

Not surprising at all. Today it does not make a difference as to the time one leaves. People are leaving earlier than before, arriving later than usual. Salik reduces traffic congestion on one road, makes the other's worse, and one needs to think long term. Introducing toll gates and registering Pool cars is not the solution.
Rajesh
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:22

I think both Governates of Dubai and Sharjah should seriously consider liberalising the mass transport system. Availability of different types of collective transport would raise occupancy levels per vehicle and reduce number of vehicles on road. A reduction of just 15-20% would be a big difference in inter-emirate commuting time. Time to rise and consider the mutual benefits for both emirates.
Abo Hasan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:17

I too belong to the unfortunate clan of commuters from Sharjah to Dubai. My office timings are from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm but I leave my house at 5.30 in the morning and i reach home by 5.30 pm,nearly 12 hours. Being on the road is like a nightmare for me and I pray every time I am on the road to reach my destination fast. The roads in Dubai have enough lanes but the bottleneck is on entering Sharjah, unless the Sharjah Government do something really spectacular such as building Bridges and widening the existing ones I don?t think the situation will ever become better.
Thanzeela
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:08

Dear all, To avoide trafic in the morning i start from Sharjha to Dubai at 5.00am.But in the evening it takes 2hr.to reach home at Sharjha.Thanks
Harshal
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 07:00

Since one year the tunnel opposite to al-Mulla plaza is still under construction. If they open all the 3 lanes, then at least we can reduce little bit traffic. problem is bottleneck in that tunnel
Suresh
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 06:47

Open up the link from Sharjah road to Al Mamzar going to Dubai and/or make a parallel road between Al Mamzar, Dubai and Al Khan, Sharjah. This will surely help decongest the Sharjah road since it will break commuters between two parallel roads.
Anonymous
Shj,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 06:36

Well it is 5.45 am and I?m in my office while my Job Starts at 8.00 am. This is just to avoid remaining in Traffic for hours. Where as this traffic problem has given frustration, and stress and the lack of sleep is defiantly an effect upon my health. the cause of traffic congestion is not mainly the lack of infrastructure but drivers them selves because they do not follow the Traffic rules, I am sure if every one follow the traffic rules there will be much less congestion on roads.
Abdul
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 06:36

set for Trailers and Trucks Timings so they can be on the road in hrs different than cars.
Chidambaram
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 06:17

I really think that the addition of the new salik gates both at Al Maktoum and on SZR near Burj Dubai will make a huge difference, as the traffic congestion is caused by people escaping Garhoud Bridge's Salik and taking the Maktoum bridge. By putting a Salik gate on Al Maktoum bridge, drivers who are cutting in last minute to go under the World Trade Center round about will disappear and it will clear the SZR. Once you cross the World Trade Center round about towards Garhoud, it's always nice and clear since they installed Salik.
Ahmed
Dubai,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 03:02

yesterday i left my house in al khan road, sharjah at 6:00 am and i reached the mulla plaza at 8:45am.
reza
sharjah,UAE
Posted: June 23, 2008, 01:21

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