Dubai: Diversions around Sana interchange on Shaikh Rashid and Shaikh Khalifa roads has slowed down traffic considerably.
New detours were introduced on Saturday to make way for road works, which are part of the 13km-long Shindagha Corridor.
Running all the way from Al Mamzar, in the far end of Deira, the Shindagha Corridor passes along Cairo Street, Al Khaleej Road, Meena Street and Shaikh Rashid Road, creating a 13km-long expressway through some of the most congested parts of historic Dubai.
The project, which will be completed in three phases, will see development of 15 intersections along the corridor, converting the signal junctions into free-flowing flyovers and underpasses that will remove all traffic bottlenecks.
Work on the corridor began at the intersection of Khalifa street and Shaikh Rashid road in Karama (Sana interchange), where construction work began last year to build an eight-lane underpass, a four-lane flyover and an elevated exit.
The interchange, which is part of a Dh611 million phase on one of the corridors, is set to be ready by the end of next year. The diversion will remain in place until then.
Though the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has maintained the existing number of lanes on both sides of the detour, the temporary roundabout on the Sana interchange, with additional traffic lights, is causing a bit of a hitch.
On Shaikh Rashid road the traffic moving from the port side is diverted to the right side of the road, heading to the temporary roundabout, before moving on to Shaikh Khalifa road and Shaikh Zayed road.
On Sunday morning, the first day of work after the diversion was introduced, traffic tailback could be seen as far as a kilometre away, as motorists were still coming to terms with the changes.
“Normally it takes me around 10 minutes to pass the Sana interchange, but today it took me 20 minutes due to the diversion. Since it was the first day of work after the detour was put in place, I think a lot of people were caught unawares. Probably it will get better with more people starting early,” said Nitin Kumar, a resident of Mankhool.
Another resident, Abdul Samad, said that though the project will ease traffic in the long run, “the fact that we have to bear with the diversions for another year is going to make commute difficult.”
However, RTA has ensured that its experts have charted a plan to control the existing traffic and provide sufficient corridors to ensure a smooth flow vehicles without affecting the current volumes.
