Dubai: Dubai Metro will have three helipads along its route, one on the Green Line and two on the Red Line, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced.
The helipads, which will be used by helicopters in medical cases as well as in other emergency situations, will be located in Al Rashidiya, Al Ghusais and Jebel Ali.
Use of helicopters is expected to reduce response time during emergencies and other crises situations.
The decision to build the helipads was reached following a meeting between Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, with Maj Gen Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Commander in Chief of Dubai.
The meeting was aimed at exploring ways of potential improvements that can be jointly implemented to ensure the protection and safety of Dubai Metro as well as focusing on Dubai Tram’s operational results during the past ten months.
Special attention is being given to the traffic and pedestrian movement along the tramway, and the vehicular traffic overlapping with the tramway at junctions with signals.
Maj Gen Al Mazeina stressed the importance of coordination and continued communication between the Dubai Police and the RTA towards enhancing the safety of people on road.
The meeting reviewed the periodic traffic studies commissioned by the RTA with the aim of improving the traffic efficiency at junctions in the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) where international consultants have been engaged to measure the impact of improvements and modifications made by the RTA at junctions following the closure of left-turns in order to enhance the traffic safety at those intersections.
These modifications included elongating the path to the left-turn at the 414 junction for the traffic inbound from Qarn Al Sabkha Street in the direction of the JBR, abolishing the parking of vehicles on the sides of roads leading to The Walk, removing the bus stop at the junction, and adding a free right-hand lane at the intersection.
The RTA will monitor and track the current situation on daily basis to identify the journey time besides the tramway before the implementation of the traffic solutions in October when the traffic movement will be back to normal.
The meeting has also reviewed the efforts of the Dubai Police in securing the protection and safety of metro and tram riders as well as road users. Policemen are deployed around-the-clock in 25 locations and the Dubai Tram is manned by 230 policemen. Three mounted patrols and four motorcycles are deployed 24-hours a day.
