Dubai: Construction around Safa Park has had an adverse impact on traffic on Hadiqa and Al Wasl streets over the last couple of months.
New diversions on Al Wasl street, coupled with new traffic lights, have added to the woes of motorists, who are left stuck in traffic.
During morning peak hours, the tailbacks mean it takes motorists more than 30 minutes to cover a kilometre-long stretch from Interchange Two to the Safa Park/Union Cooperative traffic junction on Al Wasl Street.
“What used to take just 10 minutes earlier now takes more than 30 minutes and the sequence of traffic lights at the Al Safa Park/Union Cooperative junction doesn’t help our cause. The signals turn red within seconds, not allowing even a few cars to cross,” said Sulaiman Najjar, a resident of Al Wasl area.
Another motorist, using Hadiqa street and Al Wasl street daily for work, said: “Three back-to-back traffic lights, including a new one on Al Wasl street, slows down the traffic considerably. Something has to be done that alters the sequence a bit.”
The construction work on Al Wasl street is part of the Dh2 billion Dubai Canal project, where a six lane flyover is currently under construction to allow the canal to flow underneath.
According to an engineer working on the project, the new traffic light is temporary and will be removed once the construction work is completed.
“The new traffic light is installed to allow for construction vehicles and workers to cross the road where construction work is under way simultaneously on both sides. We have taken every care to reduce the impact on traffic the best we can,” said the engineer on conditions of anonymity.
Work on the Dubai Canal project is expected to be completed by mid-2016, including the 16-lane flyover on Shaikh Zayed Road, as well as the flyovers on Al Wasl Street and Jumeirah Beach Road.
Currently, work on all three phases of the canal project is being carried out simultaneously, with excavation of the canal under way inside Safa Park.
The prestigious development, which was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in October 2013, will see the extension of Dubai Creek by three kilometres, turning Bur Dubai into an island ringed by the Creek on three sides and the Arabian Sea on one side.
