Saturday, Nov 07, 2015

Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced a roads improvement plan to ease traffic congestion around Dubai International Airport. The RTA has awarded a contract for upgrading Airport Road at a cost of Dh404 million.

Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, said that the upgrading of Airport Road is part of a plan developed by the RTA to cater to the projected growth in the number of travellers through Dubai International Airport, which is expected to serve about 92 million passengers by 2020.

The traffic study emphasised the importance of accomplishing the Airport Road upgrading project by 2017.

The project comprises the construction of bridges, tunnels at Al Rashidiya and Airport Road interchange with each of Casablanca Road, Marrakech Road and Nad Al Hamar Road. It also includes improving at-grade intersections, and constructing a service road of three lanes in each direction to separate the traffic movement from and to Nad Al Hamar from the vehicular flow on Airport Road starting from Al Rashidiya Interchange up to Marrakech Interchange.

The project will contribute to increasing the handling capacity of Airport Road by an extra 5,000 vehicles per hour. It will also enhance the traffic safety level, and reduce the journey time on Airport Road from Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road to Casablanca Road from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.

The improvement of Al Rashidiya Interchange comprises the construction of a bridge on Airport Road of three lanes in each direction, which is expected to reduce the waiting time at the interchange from 13 minutes to less than one minute, explained Al Tayer.

The upgrading of the Airport Road — Nad Al Hamar Road Interchange encompasses the construction of an additional bridge of two lanes in each direction to serve the traffic coming from Nad Al Hamar Road heading towards Airport Road. The project will ease the current snarls resulting from the overlapping traffic at Nad Al Hamar Interchange between the first circular slope heading to the left, from Nad Al Hamar Road to Airport Road, and the second circular slope heading left, from Airport Road to Nad Al Hamar Road.

The upgrading of Marrakech Road — Airport Road Interchange includes the construction of a flyover on Airport Road of three lanes in each direction along with a ramp from the bridge in the direction of Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport bypassing the traffic signal. The project also includes the construction of a two-lane tunnel to serve the traffic heading left from Airport Road in the direction of Marrakech Road, thus reducing the waiting time at the interchange from seven minutes to less than one minute.

The upgrading of the Airport Road — Casablanca Road Interchange includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Airport Road in the direction of Casablanca Road without waiting at the traffic signal. It also includes the construction of an alternative street for traffic coming from Al Garhoud enabling vehicles direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Road from three to four lanes.

Al Tayer said: “The RTA is proceeding with the upgrading of the infrastructure of road networks and mass transit systems in Dubai emirate, and figuring out integrated solutions for land and marine transit systems that are safe for users, compatible with the Dubai Strategic Plan 2021, responding to the needs of hosting Expo 2020 and demographic growth.”

Staff Report

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