Adieu to traffic woes?

Dubai: Sharjah has launched an ambitious road project to turn Al Wahda Street into a double-deck expressway, Gulf News has learnt.

Junctions and roundabouts on this most congested road in Sharjah will either have free flow flyovers, tunnels or bridges. Currently around 110,000 vehicles use Al Wahda Road every day.

The work on the project has already started with the diversion of utility services. Around 1.6 km-long double deck road will be built between recently opened King Faisal Interchange and Gold Centre Intersection (junction at Al Wahda Street and Al Qasimi Road).

The cost of the project is around Dh477 million and it will be completed in three years.

The double-deck section will have two lanes on each direction. It will allow free flow of traffic along Al Wahda Street bypassing congested junctions at Abu Shagara and the Gold Centre.

Roundabouts to go

Another section of the double-deck road will pass over the Flying Saucer Roundabout (Shaikh Hameed Bin Saqr Al Qasimi Square) allowing free flow of vehicles along Al Wahda Street to bypass the roundabout. The existing roundabout will be replaced with traffic lights.

Part of the expressway project also includes improvement of Cultural Square Roundabout. An 800-metre-long tunnel will be constructed under Cultural Square Roundabout enabling traffic along Al Wahda Street to avoid this congested junction and allowing motorists to travel freely towards Sharjah International Airport and Dhaid from downtown Sharjah. The roundabout will have traffic lights to improve vehicle movement.

Once completed, Al Wahda Street will in effect be a free flow expressway through the centre of the city.

Sharjah has already built a cloverleaf intersection at Al Khan and a half cloverleaf bridge on King Faisal Street.

Dubai has already started work on an Al Ittihad Road improvement project to convert it into an expressway at a cost of Dh800 million.

The project will be a 7.5km stretch of road between Al Garhoud Bridge and Al Nahda Interchange.

Sharjah will also improve part of Al Ittihad Road between Al Nahda Interchange and Al Khan Interchange to cope with the burgeoning traffic.

It is planning to expand the Emirates Road from the existing three to four lanes to meet demands. Dubai is already working on expanding Emirates Road from the existing three lanes in each direction to six lanes on each side.

Have your say
Do you think it will ease the traffic situation? How will it impact your daily travel plans? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form below to send your comments.

One might ask, do cars really have a future in cities? Population is growing fast. More people are coming to the UAE. More high rises are coming up. This means more cars on the streets. In this situation no matter how much you increase road capacity they will eventually get filled up. One thing that flyovers/bridges in cities tend to do is that they move the jam from one point to another. (Kindly observe the situation with the Business Bay bridge which is now creating a jam in the airport tunnel area). The entire road system is required to ensure seamless/non-stop flow of traffic, which is practically not achievable. What is the functionality of most of the cars that clog the streets? They basically transport people between home and work. This calls for an integrated mass transit system between Dubai and Sharjah. This will have a quantum effect in easing traffic jam. Simply stated, pick people up from convenient points in Sharjah and drop them in the specific points in Dubai and vice versa. As population increases increase the frequency. Even with elevated expressways, jams are returning to Bangkok. Compare/contrast that with Singapore.
Saiful
Sharjah,UAE

It will be a part of tourists destination; only not a traffic solution.
Amjad
Dubai,UAE

If this plan materializes many will benefit. But in the meantime, the officers may also take into consideration the area in Abu Shagara where cars are not properly parked due to the lack of parking space.
Miche
Sharjah,UAE

There should be more lanes on each side of the road and the authority shall pay special attention to quick completion in shortest possible time as we have seen one flyover bridge over Emirates Road which took so long that we do not remember when it was started.
Husnul
Sharjah,UAE

In my opinion, the Sharjah administration should invest money on building reliable mass transit system like mono rail and buses, this will help in reducing traffic and noise pollution.
Nizar
Sharjah,UAE

The set-up of a practical public transport network linking Sharjah to Dubai with good frequency should benefit most and put an end to most woes.The traffic chaos is only caused whilst commuting to work and this should be primarily addressed.
Mariha
Dubai,UAE

It's about time the Sharjah Govt. recognized the pain and suffering of commuters. However, is a two-lane overhead bridge the answer? And what about the experience of Al Arouba St.? People please lets go for a metro system once and for all. Enough is Enough!
Wael
Sharjah,UAE

I wish the authorities plan this venture well. Going by the way the King Faisal interchange was planned and the time it took to build one tiny, interchange (1.5 years ), hope this does not take a decade....
Edwin
Sharjah,UAE

The proposal is excellent but again 2 lanes on each side on the overhead bridge is still insufficient. One can take example of bridge before Rolla Square, two lanes have been insufficient not just today but for six years. The project should have atleast 4 lanes on both sides.
Sheikh
Dubai,UAE

I think this road development should be done in July and August months when schools have holidays, if its short term and if its long term then keep these months in consideration.
Chander
Dubai,UAE

If the the Mamzar Road from Al Shindagha tunnel to Mamzar can connect to the Beach/Port road of Sharjah, it will be a parellel road to the existing Al Ithihad road and ease traffic tremendously.
Yoonus
Dubai,UAE

What about Rolla Traffic??The construction of this double deck will ease the traffic but I could npt understand why it will take 3 years...
Manish
Sharjah,UAE

I think Sharjah should have waited for Dubai to finish its Metro project from Garhoud to Al Nadha so we will know its impact on flow of traffic. Ambitious plans are always welcome but timing has to be right.
Ranjit
Sharjah,UAE

The double-deck expressway along Al Wahda Street will help lessen the traffic jam but only for a short while because as more vehicles ply the roads, we will eventually need more roads to accommodate them all.
Vangie
Manila,Philippines

Its never too late! Our kids will benefit the most from all these road projects like the Metro and expressway.
Diana
Dubai,UAE

I only hope all this planning, money and the inconvenience that will be caused to the residents will bear fruit.
Asif
Sharjah,UAE

I have lived in Sharjah for 10 years and I have seen many road construction projects take place. My only complaint is that it takes such a long time to finish road projects in Sharjah, which is often the cause of traffic jams.
Hassan
Saint John,Canada

Since the construction work will badly hinder the flow of traffic, authorities should think of ways to speed up the construction work. I always see that road works are very slow in Sharjah.
Nooruddeen
Dubai,UAE

I think the best way to ease the traffic problem is to build a reliable public transport system. It doesn't have to be an expensive project like the Dubai Metro. Why not start with buses?
Laras
Sharjah,UAE

I wish that Sharjah had started the project earlier - at the same time as the King Faisal flyover. Now that the construction on that project is finally finished, we will have to put up with more road work.
Maliha
Sharjah,UAE

I think what we really need to solve the traffic problems in Sharjah and Dubai is to have more parallel roads between the emirates.
Haris
Abu Dhabi,UAE

Commuters will be pleased with this project. I hope they would also put up a similar project that would stretch to Al Mulla square in Dubai since we have a traffic jam all the way to Al Mulla square.
Syed
Abu Dhabi,UAE