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Al Qiyadah Intersection Between Dubai and Sharjah Opens Today

Commuters battling huge traffic snarls between Dubai and Sharjah will be able to breathe easy with the much-anticipated opening of Al Qiyadah Intersection for traffic today.

The project, a part of the first phase of the Al Ittihad Road Improvement Plan of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), is expected to reduce traffic jams by 27 per cent, an official told Khaleej Times.

The two-lane underpass of the intersection has been widened to four lanes in each direction.

The number of vehicles using the route is all set to increase with the RTA estimating it to be around 6,000 vehicles per hour.

The interchange also includes a two-lane bridge serving traffic from Abu Hail and Salahuddin Road towards Sharjah, in addition to another two-lane bridge for vehicles coming from Al Quds Street towards Al Ittihad Road in the direction of Dubai.

Phase one of the project also includes the widening of the Al Ittihad Road to 16 lanes — eight in each direction.

The Al Mulla Plaza Intersection will be opened to March 10, thereby completing phase one.

The whole Ittihad Road Improvement Plan project consists of two phases initially. Phase two focuses on Airport Road, Shaikh Rashid Road until Garhoud Bridge. The work on this phase has begun and will be completed by the end of the year, the official said.

The Al Mulla Plaza Intersection, once completed, will be able to accommodate around 4,800 vehicles per hour in each direction…SOURCE

Just Say No to ‘Salik’: Dubai’s Toll System

Salik, no sooner do I here the sound of that word and I get hackles.  For those of you who do not know, Salik is Dubai’s attempt to limit traffic congestion by imposing tolls.  The bad part of this idea comes-in when you realize that it will do nothing but raise revenue for Dubai RTA.  Currently, there are very few alternatives to traveling Sheikh Zayed road.  The Metro is years from completion.  Alternative routes all have some construction and/or bottlenecks. In fact, Sheikh Zayed Rd. was one of the most complete routes in all of Dubai.  Now, you will have to pay to use it.

Living in Sharajah I have the luxury of not driving on Shk. Zayed Rd.. And, until Dubai does something different about transport, I and my family will not use the Salik system.  If we MUST go to Dubai, we will use the alternate routes.

This, of course, is going to majorly affect those malls and businesses (Mall of the Emirates, Mazaya Center, Wafi City) that rely on the easy access to Shk. Zayed to get customers into their stores.  Out of town business will be affected in a major way.

It’s time RTA stopped listening to their British and British-trained road engineers!  They are quickly turning Dubai into a copy of London’s transit system.  Unfortunately, we all know what that is like!

Until that happens, I (and my family) will take our business elsewhere.

Oh, and citizens of Dubai… enjoy the new traffic jams created by the system.