Dubai: Ten new pedestrian bridges are scheduled to be built in Dubai in 2016 and 2017, the Roads and Transport Authority has announced.
The 10 new bridges will bring the total number of pedestrian bridges to 120 by 2017.
Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA, said the bridges will be situated in a number of vital locations around the city.
Al Tayer said: “Since inception, the RTA has attached considerable attention to the provision of safe pedestrian crossings, and set a number of perimeters upon which the locations of pedestrian bridges are selected; such as spots witnessing high proportion of run-over accidents (black points), intensity of traffic movement, movement of people between the two sides of the road, the distance to the nearest pedestrian crossing, location of bus stops, availability of malls as well as public and private organisations, and the observations raised by the general headquarters of the Dubai Police, and the public.
“The new bridges will be constructed in a number of vital locations based on the findings of traffic studies. Two bridges will be constructed on Baniyas Road; the first near the Department of Land and Properties, and the second near Dubai Municipality. One bridge will be constructed on Khalid Bin Al Waleed Road near Al Rifaa-Al Saadiyat Road, in addition to a bridge near Al Twar Centre, a bridge on Al Ittihad Road near Dnata, a bridge on the Arabian Ranches Road (Road 323), a bridge on Al Mankhool Road, a bridge on Latifa Bint Hamdan Road near Al Khail Mall Road, a bridge near Bel Rumaitha Club, and a bridge on the Dubai-Al Ain Road near Skycourts Buildings.
Al Tayer said the RTA is currently constructing seven pedestrian bridges, including two on Baghdad Road, and one bridge each on Al Maktoum Road, Al Mina Road, Amman Road, Baniyas Road, and Al Rasheed Road. The completion rate has reached more than 30 per cent in these bridges, and the project is expected to be completed during the first quarter of next year.
Reduce fatality rate
Al Tayer said the number of pedestrian bridges in Dubai has soared from 14 bridges in 2006 to 56 in 2010, continued to grow to 74 by 2011 and reached 100 bridges by the end of 2014, and the number is set to rise further to 120 by 2017.
“These bridges contributed to recording the lowest rate of pedestrian fatalities on Dubai roads over 20 years. Statistics indicate pedestrian fatalities dropped from 9.5 fatalities per 100,000 of population in 2007 to seven fatalities per 100,000 of population in 2008, and continued the downturn to reach 2.3 fatalities per 100,000 of population in 2010, and dipped further in 2014 to its lowest rate of one fatality per 100,000 of population,” he said.
Al Tayer called on citizens, residents and visitors to use bridges and underpasses to cross roads, and called on motorists to abide by the specified speed limits and slow down at pedestrian crossings for their own safety and the safety of road users.
