DUBAI – The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority, RTA, has commenced the initial phase of the Latifa bint Hamdan Street and Umm Al Sheef Street project, with Phase II scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2019.

The project, worth AED800 million, links Jumeirah with Al Khail Road and Parallel Roads (First Al Khail Road and Al Asayel Street) through a network of bridges extending 7.4km.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, highlighted the strategic objectives of the project. "The aim of this project is to enhance the road network extending east to west and link them with the main roads, such as Sheikh Zayed Road, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, and Emirates Road. It also supports the urban and economic upswing in the surrounding areas, besides reducing the traffic density on Al Wasl Street by 10 percent in the sector between Al Manara and Al Hadeeqa Streets. It also serves the new urban developments such as Dubai Hills, Meydan, Al Khail Gate, and Dubailand. It serves residential communities such as Umm Suqeim, Jumeirah, Al Wasl, and Al Qouz Residential Area," he said.

The project features two-level bridges extending 7.4km, including a bridge that crosses over the Dubai Metro Red Line. The bridges will reduce the transit time on Latifa bint Hamdan Street between the Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road from 12 minutes to four minutes, and ease the movement of trucks to and from the Al Qouz Industrial Area.

The project will serve eight urban development projects by 2020, and ten others by 2030. It will also serve four residential districts by 2020 and four others by 2030. About 680,000 people will benefit from the project by 2020, and the number of beneficiaries will rise to 1.2 million after ten years.

It will also serve five industrial areas by 2020 and five others by 2030. About 370,000 workers will benefit from the project by 2020, which will rise to 724,000 ten years later.

Phase I includes the improvement of Latifa bint Hamdan and Umm Al Sheef Streets from the Al Safa Junction (2nd Interchange) to the Al Manara Junction on the Sheikh Zayed Road (3rd Interchange). The initial phase also involves linking Jumeirah with Al Khail Road and the Parallel Roads (First Al Khail Road and Al Asayel Road) through the construction of two-level roads and bridges, freeing up traffic from Umm Al Sheef Street towards the direction of Al Wasl Street and Sheikh Zayed Road all the way to Latifa bint Hamdan Street. Under this phase, Al Zomorrod Street will also be extended eastward towards the Sheikh Zayed Road. The two bridges link at the Sheikh Zayed Road through bridges that provide free exits. The bridges passing over and under the Dubai Metro Red Line route were completed without affecting the metro’s operations.

The work also included the construction of a junction between Latifa bint Hamdan Street and First Al Khail Road and a signalised junction underneath the bridge. The construction and improvement of the Umm Al Sheef-Al Wasl Streets junction, main surface roads, service roads, and landscaping work along the Sheikh Zayed Road between Al Safa and Al Manara Interchanges as well as the junction of Al Manara and Umm Al Sheef Streets, and Latifa and Al Zomorrod Streets, also feature prominently.

Phase II aims to improve the link between Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road, and between Jumeirah to the west and Dubailand to the east. Under the second phase, the entry points of the Al Qouz areas and other development projects will also be upgraded, while the three-kilometre stretch that currently extends from First Al Khail Road to the junction of Al Khail Road will also be improved. Work is currently underway to improve the junctions along the sector.

The junction between Latifa bint Hamdan and Al Asayel Streets will be upgraded from a surface signalised junction to a flyover composed of a first deck bridge of three lanes in each direction to serve traffic on Latifa bint Hamdan Street. A second deck bridge with two lanes in each direction will also be constructed to facilitate traffic on Al Asayel Street and to upgrade the surface intersection, which is expected to reduce the waiting time at the existing intersection from three minutes to less than a minute. It will also reduce traffic congestion by 78 percent during the evening peak hours, and increase the capacity of the junction by 40 percent.

The project will also improve the Al Khail Road junction through a ramp for traffic heading northward to Al Khail Road and the Business Bay Crossing, which will ease congestion at the intersection with Al Khail Road.

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2018.