Faster access to Dubai airport from today

The original transit time between Airport St. and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road was 30 minutes.

The Rashidiya bridge in both directions at the intersection of the Airport Street has opened to motorists this Friday, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced. The opening of the two bridges will ensure a smooth flow of traffic in the direction of Deira as well as Al Khawaneej.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, also announced that the new bridge at the intersection of Casablanca intersection would be operational in mid-January.

The new bridge at the junction of Marrakech Street opposite to Emirates Airline building serving the traffic from Deira in the direction of the Airport St. would be opened by the end of February 2018. The Expo Bridge in the direction of Dubai Aviation Engineering Project premises, and the new Nad Al Hamar Bridge in the direction of Airport St, would be opened by the end of March 2018.

Upon completion, the project would increase the capacity of the Airport St. by an additional 5000 vehicles per hour, enhance the traffic safety level, and reduce the transit time on the Airport St. from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road to Casablanca St. from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.

"The Improvement of the Airport St. Project is part of RTA's plans to accommodate the projected growth in the number of passengers using the Dubai International Airport, which is expected to shoot to 92 million passengers by 2020. The Project comprises the construction of bridges at Rashidiya Intersection, bridges & a tunnel at Marrakech Intersection, and bridges at the intersections of Casablanca St and Nad Al Hamar St of the Airport St. It also includes improving at-grade intersections and constructing a service road. Upon completion, the project would increase the capacity of the Airport St. by an additional 5000 vehicles per hour, enhance the traffic safety level, and reduce the transit time on the Airport St. from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Road to Casablanca St. from 30 minutes to 5 minutes," said Al Tayer.

"The Improvement of the Airport St. Project encompasses the Improvement of Rashidiya Intersection through constructing a bridge on the Airport St. of three lanes in each direction, which would slash the waiting time at the intersection significantly. It also includes upgrading the intersection of the Airport-Nad Al Hamar Streets through the construction of an additional bridge of two lanes to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar St. heading towards the Airport Street. The project would ease the current snarls resulting from the overlapping traffic at Nad Al Hamar Intersection between the first circular slope heading to the left from Nad Al Hamar St. to the Airport Street. It would also ease the traffic movement on the second circular slope heading left from the Airport St. to Nad Al Hamar St. The vehicular traffic on the first circular slope would be restricted to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar St.," he elaborated.

"The Project also includes the improvement of the intersection of Marrakech-Airport Streets through the construction of a flyover of three lanes in each direction on the Airport St. along with a ramp stretching from the bridge directly to Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport, thus bypassing the waiting at the light signal. It also includes the construction of a tunnel of two lanes in each direction to serve the leftward-bound traffic from the Airport St. in the direction of Marrakech St., which involves a remarkable reduction of the waiting time at the intersection.

"Upgrading the intersection of the Airport-Casablanca Streets includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge to serve the traffic from the Airport St. in the direction of Casablanca St. eliminating the waiting time at the light signal. It also includes the construction of an alternative route for traffic inbound from Al Garhoud enabling direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of the Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca St. in the direction of Al Garhoud from 3 to 4 lanes. The Project would considerably reduce the total waiting time at Casablanca Intersection, and ease the existing tailbacks generated by the overlap between traffic between vehicles heading towards Casablanca Intersection and vehicles coming from Terminal 1 heading leftwards to Casablanca St.," explained Al Tayer.

"RTA is proceeding with the upgrading of the infrastructure of road networks and mass transit systems in Dubai Emirate by figuring out integrated solutions for land and marine transit systems that are safe for users and compatible with the Dubai Strategic Plan 2021. Such solutions are intended to respond to the needs of hosting Expo 2020, serve the demographic growth, and encourage the development & investments across the Emirate," added the Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA.

This article was originally published here on khaleejtimes.com