Highlights
- 12km extension links Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road with Emirates Road
- Dh500 million project has four interchanges comprising a tunnel and three bridges
- 12,000 vehicles per hour in both directions
- 30 per cent improvement expected in Dubai-Sharjah traffic movement
Dubai: A new Dubai-Sharjah alternative road is receiving finishing touches, and is set to open by the end of next month, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Saturday.
Expected to bring about a 30 per cent drop in traffic on the busy corridors connecting the two emirates, the 12-kilometre link between Mohammad Bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road will be particularly handy for motorists travelling to and from Northern Emirates and eastern suburbs of Sharjah.
Moving traffic away from the busy Ittihad Road, Beirut Street and Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, the new project will help motorists gain quicker access to Emirates Road via Mirdiff along Tripoli Road.
“The project will increase the traffic capacity to about 12,000 vehicles per hour in both directions and reduce the traffic volumes by 30 per cent. Upon completion, the project will act as a parallel to Al Amardi- Al Khawaneej as well as Al Awir-Ras Al Khor traffic corridors,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director-General of RTA.
Set to open by the end of June, the Dh500 million project is now 90 per cent complete, the RTA said.
“Work is progressing at a fast pace on the project. The contractor has completed the extension of Tripoli Street from the intersection with Shaikh Zayed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street up to Emirates Road and the bridge linking the extension of Tripoli Street with the Emirates Road in the direction of Sharjah,” Al Tayer said.
Work on the flyover between Tripoli Street and Shaikh Zayed Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street has also been completed, while the completion rate has reached 92 per cent on the bridge at the intersection of Tripoli and Nouakchott streets, and 75 per cent on the tunnel at the intersection of Tripoli and Algeria streets. The project covers a 5.3-kilometre extension of Tripoli road, which is also being widened from the Mirdif interchange on Mohammad Bin Zayed Road to Emirates Road.
The inclusions
“The upgrade includes widening of Tripoli Road over a 6.5km stretch from the Mirdif City Centre interchange up to the Academic City road interchange. It also includes the construction of a new 5.3km road of three lanes in each direction from the intersection of the Academic City up to the Emirates Road, easing the traffic flow on the corridor by 30 per cent,” he added.
Consisting of an underpass and three flyovers, the upgrade will ensure non-stop movement of traffic at 6,000 vehicles per hour per direction.
Among the upgrades is a six-lane underpass at the Tripoli-Algiers roads junction, as well as a redesign of the at-grade signalised intersection, which will reduce the waiting time at the junction from three minutes to less than one minute.
At the Tripoli-Nouakchott and Tripoli-Academic City roads junctions each, six-lane flyovers are being built, while another flyover connecting Tripoli road with Emirates road is currently taking shape.
Running parallel to the Dh490 million Airport Road Improvement Project, which opened for traffic last year, the two corridors together are expected to result in a major improvement in traffic movement around Dubai International Airport and its adjoining areas.
