Dubai: New traffic diversions will be in place on Hadiqa Street and Al Wasl Road, making way for the next stage of the Dubai Canal development.
Roads are being paved along Hadiqa Street heading from interchange two all the way to Al Wasl Road.
The boundary walls of Safa Park have been pushed back from Gate One all along Hadiqa Street to Al Wasl Road, to make way for the detour.
Traffic from both directions on the existing road will be shifted to the detour by the coming weekend, allowing for a flyover to be built on the existing road. The flyover will connect to the bridge that is currently under construction on Al Wasl Road.
The detour will also see the traffic junction near the Union Cooperative move north by a few metres.
The roadworks are part of the diversion plan to allow the construction of a bridge on Al Wasl Road that will see the Dubai Canal flowing under it.
Al Wasl Road has already seen detours over the past six months, with traffic moving away from the old tracks, where the bridge is being built.
As expected, construction works have disturbed the flow of traffic, but the Roads and Transport Authority have maintained the same number of lanes on the detours to minimise the impact on traffic.
“The traffic diversion is designed to maintain the same capacity of the road network, and maintain the same lane configuration as before. We don’t think the canal works have adversely affected traffic conditions. This is evident from the implementation of the Shaikh Zayed Road diversion plan,” said Maitha Bin Udai, chief executive of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency.
Traffic on Shaikh Zayed Road has also been diverted since early last year to make way for a flyover but maintaining the same number of lanes has ensured smooth flow of traffic.
In the next stage, detours will be seen on Jumeirah Road, where another flyover will be built. The Canal will flow underneath all three flyovers.
Last month, changes were made to the timing in the traffic light sequence on Al Wasl Road, to ease tailbacks on the road as well as on streets leading to it.
However, it is not clear if the relocation of the main traffic junction near Union Cooperative and Safa Park will impact traffic adversely or ease it further.
The congestion level had worsened in the past couple of months, particularly after an additional traffic light was installed on Al Wasl Road, which was addressed last month with changes to the timings of the signals.
Maitha said that the second stage of road diversions, which will be in place soon, will further ease traffic as additional tracks are being built.
The temporary roads for the diversion are ready and the workers are putting in place road marks and signs, indicating the diversion will be in operation soon.
The construction work on Al Wasl Road is part of the Dh2 billion Dubai Canal project, which is expected to be completed by mid-2016, including the 16-lane flyover on Shaikh Zayed Road and the flyovers on Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Road.
Currently, work on all three phases of the canal project is being carried out simultaneously, with excavation of the canal under way inside Safa Park.
The prestigious development, which was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in October 2013, will see the extension of the Dubai Creek by three kilometres, turning Bur Dubai into an island ringed by the Creek on three sides and Arabian Sea on one side.