Dubai: A major flyover on Airport Road at the Rashidiya interchange will open for traffic on Friday, easing the commute on the busy highway, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said on Monday.
Airport Road has been undergoing a major upgrade since mid 2016 and is set to complete by March this year, reducing the travel time on the road from 30 minutes to five minutes.
The Dh404 million project is part of a series of infrastructure and mass transit upgrades in Dubai, realising the Dubai Strategic Plan 2021.
“The Airport Road Improvement Project is part of a plan set by the RTA for accommodating the projected growth in the number of passengers using the Dubai International Airport which is expected to shoot up to 92 million passengers by 2020,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA.
Once completed, the handling capacity of Airport Road will increase by an extra 5,000 vehicles per hour, reducing the journey time between Mohammad Bin Rashid Interchange to Casablanca interchange from 30 minutes to five minutes, he added.
Al Tayer announced that the Rashidiya Bridge will open for traffic in both directions on January 5. The opening of the flyover from both sides will ensure a smooth flow of traffic in the direction of Deira as well as Al Khawaneej.
The six-lane Rashidiya flyover is expected to reduce waiting time at the interchange from 13 minutes to less than one minute.
Al Tayer also announced that the new bridge at the Casablanca intersection would be ready by the middle of this month.
The Casablanca interchange upgrade includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Airport Road in the direction of Casablanca Street without waiting at the traffic signal.
It also includes the construction of an alternative road for traffic coming from Al Garhoud providing vehicles direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Street from three to four.
“The project will reduce the total waiting time at Casablanca Street from three minutes to one minute, and ease tailbacks generated by the overlapping movement of vehicles heading towards Casablanca interchange and those coming from Terminal 1 heading towards Casablanca Street,” added Al Tayer.
He also revealed that the flyover at the junction of Marrakesh street opposite Emirates Airline head office, serving the traffic from Deira would be opened by the end of February 2018. The bridge serving traffic from the Khawaneej side opened to traffic last year.
The entire upgrade will by ready with the completion of Expo and Nad Al Hamar bridges by the end of March.
Work on Nad Al Hamar Road Interchange will include construction of an additional flyover 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 ramp heading to the left from Nad Al Hamar Road to Airport Road, and the second ramp heading left from Airport Road to Nad Al Hamar Road.
Following the enhancements, the road will transform into a freeway, allowing free-flowing movement of vehicles from both directions.
