95% of Dubai road network assets rated ‘excellent’

Dubai: About 95 per cent of Dubai’s road network assets are rated “excellent”, according to Roads and Transport Authority data, as the emirate expands preventive maintenance and increasingly relies on smart systems to identify where repairs are needed.

The RTA carries out much of the work overnight to reduce disruption to motorists, with crews repairing asphalt, pavements, bridges, tunnels and stormwater drainage systems before roads reopen ahead of the morning rush.

Night-time work also covers street lighting, traffic signals, directional signs and metal barriers, as well as the cleaning of infrastructure, treatment of surface damage and smaller traffic improvements.

Under its preventive road maintenance programme, the authority had completed maintenance and rehabilitation work on about 17 kilometres of asphalt roads by early June 2026, covering nine streets and six areas across Dubai.

The work included highways, arterial and local roads in industrial, commercial and residential districts, as well as a cycling track.

The RTA is also carrying out pavement maintenance and rehabilitation covering about 90,000 square metres under its 2026 programme, slightly above the approximately 88,000 square metres completed in 2025.

Behind those works is an increasingly automated approach to deciding where crews should be deployed.

The authority analyses asset-management systems, field inspection results, customer reports, traffic data and scheduled maintenance plans, then prioritises interventions according to the severity of damage, safety risk, traffic volumes and the importance of the road or asset.

Smart technologies allow the RTA to monitor infrastructure conditions and make operational decisions more quickly, while digital asset-management systems are used to track work orders and repairs.

Modern surveying and inspection equipment is also being used to improve the quality of maintenance, shorten completion times and speed up responses to defects requiring urgent attention.

Before overnight works begin, the authority prepares traffic-management plans covering closures and diversions and puts safety measures in place. Crews work to tightly controlled schedules, with final inspections carried out before roads are reopened ahead of peak morning traffic.