The optimistic start to the Salik toll gates on Al Ittihad Road and Beirut Road is truly encouraging. The flow of traffic on the ever-busy Al Ittihad Road, used daily by more 260,000 vehicles, was smoother yesterday. The trip, which used to take 20 to 40 minutes on average during peak hours took between five to seven minutes yesterday.
If time is money, which it surely is, all those who used the toll gates on their way to Dubai on either Al Ittihad Road or Beirut Road yesterday saved a minimum of 30 minutes for only Dh4. In addition to this, they saved 30 minutes of the lives of their vehicles, and also saved on fuel consumption. More importantly, they inhaled less carbon dioxide and other poisonous gases by spending less time on the road. Some commuters will opt to evade the Salik gates and use alternative routes, which is fair. But the message we take from the enforcement of the third phase of Salik is that the system is quite successful in reducing traffic on congested roads.
Fees collected from Salik have been quite useful for the development of the road and transportation system in Dubai. The money we spend on our daily trips goes towards upgrading the state-of-the-art roadways in the emirate. What is needed at this stage, however, is the offering of incentives to frequent users of Salik to make them feel a part of project.
