RTA to open bridge at Dubai Airport intersection

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is set to open tomorrow (January 19) the new bridge at the intersection of Airport-Casablanca streets, nearby the Cargo Village building. This one-lane bridge will help serve the traffic from the Airport Street in the direction of Casablanca Street, thus eliminating the waiting time at the light signal, said a statement from RTA. This comes as part of RTA's 'Improvement of the Airport Street Project' aimed at accommodating the projected growth in the number of passengers using the Dubai International Airport which is expected to shoot to 92 million passengers by 2020, it stated. Upon completion, the project would increase the capacity of the Airport Street by an additional 5,000 vehicles per hour, enhance the traffic safety level, and ease the traffic flow. Early this month, RTA had opened two bridges at the intersection of Al Rashidiya- Airport Streets, which has massively reduced the waiting time at the junction, said the statement. Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of RTA, said: "Upgrading the intersection of the Airport-Casablanca Streets includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge for serving the traffic from the Airport Street heading towards Casablanca Street." "The project includes constructing an alternative route for motorists coming from Al Garhoud, enabling them direct access to Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 of the Dubai International Airport," he noted. According to him, the project also involved increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Street in the direction of Al Garhoud from three to four lanes. The project would significantly reduce the total waiting time at the intersection of Casablanca Street. It would also ease the current congestion resulting from the overlapping traffic between vehicles heading to Casablanca intersection and those coming from Terminal 1 and heading leftward to Casablanca Street, he added. “Upgrading the Airport Street Project encompasses improving the intersection of Airport–Nad Al Hamar streets through the construction of an additional two-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar Street heading towards the Airport Street," said Al Tayer. The project will 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 Street to the Airport Street, he stated. "It will also ease the traffic movement on the second circular slope heading left from the Airport Street to Nad Al Hamar Street. The vehicular traffic on the first circular slope will be restricted to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar Street,"