Travel time on Dubai's Airport road cut from 30 minutes to 5 [video]

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has awarded a contract for upgrading the Airport Road at a cost of Dh404 million.

The project will contribute to increasing the handling capacity of the Airport Road by an extra 5,000 vehicles per hour.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, said: “The upgrading of the Airport Road is part of a plan developed by the RTA to cater to the projected growth in the number of travellers to the Dubai International Airport; which is expected to serve about 92 million travellers by 2020.

“The improvement of Rashidiya Interchange comprises the construction of a bridge on the Airport Road of 3 lanes in each direction; which is expected to slash the waiting time at the interchange from 13 minutes to less than one minute,” explained Al Tayer.

“The traffic study emphasised the importance of accomplishing the Airport Upgrading project by 2017, he said.

The project comprises the construction of bridges, tunnels at Rashidiya and Airport Road interchange with each of Casablanca St, Marrakech St. and Nad Al Hamar St.

It also includes improving at-grade intersections, and constructing a service road of 3 lanes in each direction to separate the traffic movement from and to Nad Al Hamar from the vehicular flow on the Airport Street starting from Rashidiya Interchange up to Marrakech Interchange. It will also enhance the traffic safety level, and reduce the journey time on the Airport Road from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road to Casablanca Street from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.

Airport Road – Nad Al Hamar Road

The upgrading of the Airport Road – Nad Al Hamar Road Interchange encompasses the construction of an additional bridge of two lanes in each direction to serve the traffic coming from Nad Al Hamar heading towards the Airport Road.

The project will ease the current snarls resulting from the overlapping traffic at Nad Al Hamar Interchange between the first circular slope heading to the left, from Nad Al Hamar Road to the Airport Road, and the second circular slope heading left, from the Airport Road to Nad Al Hamar Road.

“Vehicular traffic on the first circular slope will be restricted to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar,” added Al Tayer.

Marrakech Street – Airport Road

The upgrading of Marrakech Street – Airport Road Interchange includes the construction of a flyover on the Airport Road of 3 lanes in each direction along with a ramp from the bridge in the direction of Terminal 3 of the Dubai International Airport bypassing the traffic signal. The project also includes the construction of a two-lane tunnel to serve the traffic heading left from the Airport Road in the direction of Marrakech Street thus reducing the waiting time at the interchange from seven minutes to less than one minute.

Airport Road – Casablanca Street

The upgrading of the Airport Road – Casablanca Street Interchange includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge to serve the traffic from the Airport Road in the direction of Casablanca Street without waiting at the traffic signals.

It also includes the construction of an alternative street for traffic coming from Al Garhoud enabling vehicles direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of the Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Street from 3 to 4 lanes.

The project will also reduce the total waiting time at Casablanca Street from 3 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.

 

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