Phase one of a project to widen Dubai’s Umm Suqeim Road from Al Khail Road to Sheikh Zayed Road has been completed, the Roads and Transport Authority said on Saturday.
The RTA has also commissioned three pedestrian footbridges between Al Quoz and Al Barsha, on both sides of the Umm Suqeim Road.
The authority plans to begin phase two of the project on January 7, adding lanes to the opposite side of the road.
The project also includes building two bridges of three lanes in each direction at a cost of Dh167 million.
Two junctions with traffic lights at Asayil Road and Al Khail Road 1 will also be built. All remaining work is scheduled to be finished by February next year.
Mattar Al Tayer, chairman and executive director of the RTA, said the project would free up traffic from Sheikh Zayed Road, through the Al Khail Road and Arabian Ranches interchanges, and heading towards Al Qudra Road or Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road.
Completion of the improvements will coincide with the finish of widening work along Al Khail Road, done at a cost of Dh1.9 billion.
Due to its large scope, the project was divided into four phases with the RTA opening the last one, extending the Business Bay Crossing, at the start of the year.
By the end of August next year, the authority will open the sloping turns of bridges that serve the traffic from Dubai to Al Khail Road, and from Al Khail Road to Abu Dhabi along the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road
vtodorova@thenational.ae
