RTA opens major bridge on Dubai Airport Street

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has opened a new bridge at Marrakesh Street intersection on Airport Street as part of the second contract of the Dh404-million ($110 million) Airport Street Improvement Project. The opening of the bridge will contribute to easing the traffic flow towards Deira. The contractor has completed one of the bridges at Marrakech intersection in the direction from the Airport Street towards Khawaneej, said a statement from RTA. The Marrakech intersection project includes an overpass on the Airport Street, with three lanes in each direction, and a direct ramp from the bridge heading to Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport, thus obviating the need for waiting at the traffic lights. The intersection also includes constructing a two-lane tunnel to serve traffic heading left from Airport Street towards Marrakech Street. The project will cut down the waiting time on the intersection from seven minutes to less than one minute, said the statement. The improvement of the Airport Road Project is part of RTA’s plan 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. According to RTA, the traffic study highlighted the importance of finalising the project by the end of 2017. The project will contribute to increasing the capacity of the Airport Road by 5,000 vehicles per hour, improving the traffic safety and reducing the travel time on Airport Street from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road to Casablanca Street from 30 minutes to just 5 minutes. The project will also cut the waiting time at Marrakesh Street intersection from 7 minutes to less than one minute. The Airport Improvement Project will see the construction of four interchanges besides the development of Al Rashidya Interchange through the construction of a flyover over the Airport Street of three lanes in each direction aimed at cutting the waiting time at the interchange from 13 minutes to less than a minute. It also includes the improvement of the Airport Street-Nad Al Hamar Street Intersection through the construction of an additional two-lane bridge to serve the traffic inbound from Nad Al Hamar to the Airport Street, said the RTA in its statement. It will also ease the existing traffic congestion resulting from the overlapping traffic movement at the intersection of Nad Al Hamar between the first circular slope heading to the left from Nad Al Hamar St. to the Airport St., and the second circular slope heading left; from the Airport St. to Nad Al Hamar St. The vehicular traffic on the first circular slope will be restricted to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar Street,