Two major roads open to public next month

Dubai: The Al Qiyadah underpass, extending from Al Ittihad Road, and Al Nahdah Tunnel extending from Beirut Road will open to traffic at the end of January, a senior official said.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has completed 90 per cent of construction work for these projects. The two tunnels on Al Ittihad Road and Beirut Road will help reduce traffic congestion by 27 per cent for the first road and 20 per cent for the latter when they open.

Badria Al Mehrazi, Director of Communication and Partnerships for the RTA's Executive Office, said 90 per cent of construction work had been completed at the Al Nahdah interchange tunnel extending from Beirut Road.

The project cost Dh300 million and consists of three lanes in each directions The tunnel can also accommodate 6,000 vehicles in an hour in either direction.

Widening

Nabeel Mohammad Saleh, Director of the Roads Department at the RTA, said the cost of widening Al Ittihad Road was Dh800 million. Saleh said the widening included developing two types of roads, a highway and a local road, each consisting of four lanes in each direction in addition to services on the side of the road, establishing more bridges and lanes.

He said currently 200,000 to 250,000 cars used Al Ittihad Road a day in both directions. The new project will help ease traffic movement.

Badria said the Al Nahda Interchange project consists of Beirut Road as a highway without signals. It starts from Beirut Tunnel and ends at the Sharjah border.

This project includes transferring the Al Nahda Road interchange with the Beirut interchange from a signalled interchange to a multi-layer interchange by establishing an upper bridge on Al Nahda Road and a tunnel on Beirut Road to ensure free-flowing traffic for vehicles on Beirut Road from and toward Airport Tunnel.

"The RTA hopes that the two projects will achieve a root solution for traffic congestion on the roads that connect Dubai and Sharjah, as they will be among a number of projects being constructed to develop the road network," Saleh said.

Badria said the RTA would also complete the Al Ittihad Interchange (Galadari and Al Mulla Plaza) by the end of January, while the Al Ittihad Road interchange with the Airport Road Interchange would open to traffic in July.