Travel time between Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Harbour will be cut from 12 minutes to just three minutes once a new bridge project is completed, according to Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority.
The RTA said 65 percent of construction has been completed on the 1,500-metre bridge, which will provide direct access to and from Sheikh Zayed Road to Dubai Harbour, a major waterfront destination that hosts the Middle East’s largest yacht marinas. The bridge will carry two lanes in each direction and is designed to handle about 6,000 vehicles per hour.
Works to upgrade and adjust utility services intersecting with the project are 90 percent complete, the authority said, alongside the implementation of approved traffic diversions to maintain traffic flow while construction continues. The project is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of the current year.
Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, said the bridge will extend from Interchange 5 on Sheikh Zayed Road near the American University in Dubai. It will pass through the junction of Al Naseem Street and Al Falak Street, cross King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street and connect to Dubai Harbour Street.
In addition to the bridge, the project includes at-grade improvement works at four key intersections along the corridor: Interchange 5 on Sheikh Zayed Road, the Al Falak Street and Al Naseem Street junction, the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street and Al Naseem Street junction, and Dubai Harbour Street.
Al Tayer said the upgrades will improve traffic flow and significantly reduce travel times once the project is completed.