Dubai: Roads officials say they are looking to widen the entryway into the service road at the First Gulf Bank Metro station to reduce increasing tailbacks of traffic flowing onto Shaikh Zayed Road from Umm Suqeim Road.
The on ramp to Shaikh Zayed Road is a major headache for motorists in the early morning rush as traffic exiting Umm Suqeim Road merges with traffic on Shaikh Zayed Road attempting to take the slip road after FGB Metro station, confirmed the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
Motorists on Shaikh Zayed Road say they are frustrated with the heavy traffic leading to the service road next to the First Gulf Bank Metro station, as vehicles converge from three directions.
Traffic to the service road heads from three directions – Umm Suqeim Road East, Shaikh Zayed Road and the Mall of the Emirates Interchange — leading to a bottleneck.
According to regular motorists the situation got worse when the construction work on the Umm Suqeim Road was completed.
“After the opening of the new Umm Suqeim road, traffic leading to Shaikh Zayed Road from Umm Suqeim east and entering the service road after the FGB Metro station has caused tailbacks. These tailbacks are having an impact on Shaikh Zayed Road traffic as well. It is worst in the morning when everybody wants to enter the service road which is single track from three locations. People often get into a tangle,” said a motorist on condition of anonymity.
Another motorist suggested that the entrance to the service road should be moved forward to prevent a bottleneck.
“It gets dangerous sometimes. You have to fight to enter as there is no proper way to enter the service lane if you are coming from Shaikh Zayed Road. If you follow the rules you have to fall in the line from the interchange which is not possible,” said another motorist.
Explaining the situation, Maitha Bin Udai, CEO, Traffic and Roads Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority, said: “After the modifications along Umm Suqeim Road, including the bridges, the traffic through-put to Shaikh Zayed Road and on to the FGB service road has gone up. The entry to the service road is currently served by one lane, which causes some queuing. RTA has been monitoring the situation, and is currently finalising mitigation measures to widen and provide two lanes entry to increase the capacity to FGB Metro station, and thereby improve the overall traffic operations in the area.”
Umm Suqeim Road was recently turned into an expressway with three flyovers, easing the traffic flow on the busy road.
