Sharjah: New diversions will take place next Sunday at the fifth Industrial Intersection Sharjah, commonly known to most as National Paints roundabout on the Emirates Road, to make way for the third phase of roads construction works.
The roads improvement work is part of the initiatives financed by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan that aims to connect the emirates and ease travel between them.
The National Paints Roundabout area in an important junction on Emirates road which is an important links for motorists travelling on Emirates roads to and from Dubai to Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. It has been a traffic bottleneck for years and was always congested during rush hour. It is important as it leads to two major roads, the Bypass road and Emirates Road.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Abdullah Bel Haif Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works said that the major project to allevaite the congestion in the fifth interchaange and a solution for rain water drainage, was divided into three phases to maintain the flow of traffic in this important intersection.
The third and last phase, which started yesterday, is planned to be completed by the end of 2013. The third phase, Al Nuaimi explained, involves the widening of the existing bridge, building new bridges in the area, widening Emirates road to maintain a five lane flow of traffic in each direction and constructing new drainage network for rain water as well as installing street lights.
“We will add two extra lanes in each direction to the preexisting bridge.” Al Nuaimi said.
“The third phase expenses are Dh350 million.” he said. He added that this is the most critical phase of the entire project. The works will start where area covered by the second phase ended and towards Emirates Road heading to Dubai, in the fifth industrial area’s intersection and the Sharjah Ring Road intersection and wil continue till Emirates Road meets Dubai.
The second phase, Al Nuaimi said, is 60 per cent completed and costed Dh468 million. It is set to be completed by the mid of 2013. The areas covered by phase two included the intersectio on the border between Sharjah and Ajman and continues till Emirates Road heading towards Dubai, as well as the Dhaid, University Cityand Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed intersections.
The first phase was completed in January 2012 and costed Dh64 million.
The Ministry of Public Works is currently working on various projects under President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa’s Initiatives that amount to over Dh5 billion, Al Nuaimi said.
