Dubai: Traffic tailbacks on Umm Ammara road and adjacent streets in Al Wasl area leading to Shaikh Zayed Road may ease a little as the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has widened the exit with an additional lane.
The busy Umm Ammara Street exit leading to Shaikh Zayed Road near the Business Bay Metro station had turned into a bottleneck, following the closure of another exit from the area last week.
The secondary exit to Shaikh Zayed Road in Al Wasl area, heading from Emarat Atrium, which was being used by hundreds of motorists, was closed for Dubai Canal works.
The Umm Ammara exit has been severely affected since RTA began work on the Dubai Canal and diverted all internal traffic leading to Shaikh Zayed Road to it.
However, motorists found temporary relief when RTA opened a secondary exit opposite Emarat Atrium earlier this year, which has now been closed.
Since then, the exit and the two roundabouts leading to it on Umm Amara Street have seen heavy traffic jams throughout the day, with the heaviest congestion in the afternoon and evening.
Speaking to Gulf News, Hussain Al Banna, Director of Traffic at RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency, said that the improvement to the exit will double its capacity and traffic movement will be faster.
He added that the secondary exit had to be closed to allow transfer of underground utility lanes and will remain closed at least for the next couple of months.
Work on all three phases of the Dubai Canal project is under way, with 40 per cent work on phase one completed.
As part of phase one, an eight lane bridge on Shaikh Zayed Road is expected to be ready by the end of the year, serving traffic towards Sharjah.
Work on phases two and three has also accelerated with 25 per cent and 15 per cent completed respectively.
Phase two will see construction of bridges on Al Wasl Street and Jumeirah Road, including flyovers replacing traffic lights at the Al Hadeeqa Street-Al Wasl Road junction as well as the Jumeirah-Al Athar-Al Wasl road junction.
In phase three, excavation work on a three-kilometre-long canal is under way connecting Dubai Creek from Business Bay to the Arabian Sea.
The Dh2 billion Dubai Canal project was launched in October 2013 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The project is scheduled to be ready by September 2016.
