RTA opens four-lane bridge linking Al Manama and Al Meydan Streets in Dubai

Dubai: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) today opened a new bridge linking Al Manama and Al Meydan Streets’ crossing over Dubai Al Ain Road. The earlier roundabout has been dismantled and the ramps of the existing bridges on Al Meydan Street have been readjusted. The new bridge extends 328 metres and consists of four lanes in each direction. The ramps span 400 metres and the bridge has a capacity to handle 16,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.

“The new bridge, which links Al Manama and Al Meydan Streets, is part of the Dubai-Al Ain Road Improvement Project, currently under construction by RTA. The project scope covers constructing six key intersections and widening the road from three to six lanes in each direction over a 17km stretch from the intersection with Emirates Road to the intersection of Bu Kadra and Ras Al Khor,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA.

“The project includes remarking of the traffic lanes at the intersection of Al Manama Street and Dubai Al Ain Road and constructing a four-land bridge in each direction to link Al Meydan and Al Manama Streets and serve the development projects of Meydan. The intersection will improve traffic safety and ease traffic flow on the intersection during peak hours,” he added.

‘Enhancing traffic flow’

“RTA has completed 85 per cent of construction on the Dubai-Al Ain Road Improvement Project, one of the biggest infrastructure projects currently undertaken by RTA. Upon completion, the project is expected to benefit about 1.5 million people, enhance traffic flow and improve the link with Ras Al Khor Road, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street and Emirates Road,” explained Al Tayer.

“It will also serve the existing and future development projects on both sides of the Dubai-Al Ain Road and double road capacity to 12,000 vehicles in each direction. It will also reduce the transit time on the road from Bu Kadra intersection to the Emirates Road intersection from 16 to eight minutes, which will ease traffic snarls that used to extend about 2km.

The scope of Phase II of the Dubai-Al Ain Road Improvement Project encompasses widening the main road from three to six lanes in each direction and building flyovers and service roads to ensure a safe entry/exit for residential areas and service facilities on both sides of the road. These intersections include Nad Al Sheba intersection, Dubai-Al Ain Road link with Al Manama Street, a bridge of four lanes in each direction to link Al Meydan Street and Al Manama Street, and improving the existing bridge over Al Meydan Street and Dubai-Al Ain Road to serve the development projects of Meydan.

More development projects

RTA recently opened a key 170-metre bridge at the junction of Nad Al Sheba and Dubai-Al Ain Roads, comprising two lanes in each direction. The bridge serves the traffic from and to Dubai-Al Ain Road heading to Nad Al Sheba, Meydan and development projects in the neighbourhood.

Work is currently underway for the main bridge at the same junction to provide turns in all other directions besides completing the junction of Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street. The link with the existing Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street and its extension that was opened in 2018 will be completed by constructing a bridge across Dubai-Al Ain Road.

The existing ramp will be upgraded to serve the traffic inbound from Dubailand Residence Complex heading westwards to Dubai-Al Ain Road in the direction of Dubai. A new ramp will be built to serve the traffic inbound from Dubai heading North to the Academic City and the Dubai Silicon Oasis. Service roads will be constructed on both sides of the road, along with turns to serve other movements and development projects. These works are expected to be completed by the second half of next year.

Easing movements

The Dubai-Al Ain Road Improvement Project, which extends upto 17km from the intersection of Emirates Road to Bu Kadra-Ras Al Khor intersection, encompasses widening the road from three to six lanes in each direction, and constructing service roads on both sides to step up traffic safety. The whole project includes six key intersections to ensure easing the traffic and serve residential communities on both sides of the road such as the Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubailand Residence Complex, Liwan, Meydan and Dubai Design District. The overall length of the project’s six junctions amounts to 6600 metres and all bridges span 4900 metres.

The junction of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road with Dubai-Al Ain Road also includes constructing four two-lane ramps extending 2,600 metres to ensure a free flow of traffic in all directions at the junction. The previous bridge on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road had been improved to enable the widening of the Dubai-Al Ain Road from three to six lanes in each direction, and service roads were constructed on both sides of the road.