Friday, Nov 08, 2013
Dubai: Residents of Al Barsha, Al Quoz and other regular users of Umm Suqeim road are calling on authorities to expedite road works in progress since September last year.
Continuous diversions and construction works have taken a toll on motorists with no end in sight to the completion of work by the end of this year as earlier scheduled by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
Scheduled to complete by the end of this year, the eastern section of Umm Suqeim road that connects Al Khail Road with Shaikh Zayed Road, is being turned into an expressway, complete with services roads and two dual 3-lane flyovers. However, the pace of work indicates it will take longer than expected.
“There have been traffic diversions due to construction work on Umm Suqeium road leading to traffic jams in the surrounding areas. The work was scheduled to finish by December this year, but we can see that majority of work is still not over, which will mean we will have to suffer for another six months,” said a resident of Al Barsha on condition of anonymity.
Construction work has also caused problems for the shops and businesses operating on Umm Suqeim road as customers have dried up due to various reasons.
“We hardly have customers these days as there is no space for people to park their cars or enter our shop. Even if there is some space, people try to avoid the area fearing traffic jams. We know it’s going to last only till the work is in progress and once it gets over hopefully it will be good for everybody, but right now we are suffering,” said manager of a shop, who wished not to be named.
The road work stretching for 2.5km, is part of the expanding network of Parallel Roads project that will ease traffic and help residents of Al Barsha, Al Khail and Al Quoz travel faster.
“The aim of the project is to link the east and west parallel roads from Al Quoz to Al Barsha and to provide free traffic movement through Umm Suqeim road, once the work gets over people will have no reason to complain,” said Maitha Bin Adai, CEO of RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency.
At a cost of Dh168 million, the project not only involves converting the road into a five-lane expressway but also includes building three pedestrian bridges.
Currently progressing at full swing, 70 per cent of the road works have been finished. Once completed, the project will include service lanes on each side of the road, apart from five lanes on the main road, which will separate local movement from the main road and help reduce congestion in the area.
By Shafaat Shahbandari Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
