DUBAI: Traffic flow in the direction of Deira and Al Khawaneej is set to run more smoothly from Friday, Jan.5, when Rashidiya Bridge will be opened in both directions at the intersection of Airport St.

The announcement was made by the Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Mattar Al Tayer.

 A set of other bridges is set to be operational between February and June. Their enhancement of traffic flow will be felt up to Sharjah.

Al Tayer also announced that the new bridge at the intersection of Casablanca intersection would be operational in mid-Jan 2018.

He also revealed that the new bridge at the junction of Marrakech St. opposite Emirates Airline building serving traffic from Deira in the direction of Airport St. would be opened by the end of Feb.

The RTA boss further announced that both the Expo Bridge in the direction of Dubai Aviation Engineering Project premises, and the new Nad Al Hamar Bridge in the direction of Airport St, would be opened by the end of March.

“The improvement of the Airport St. Project is part of RTA’s plans 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.

“The Project comprises the construction of bridges at Rashidiya Intersection, bridges and a tunnel at Marrakech Intersection, and bridges at the intersections of Casablanca St and Nad Al Hamar St of Airport St. It also includes improving at-grade intersections and constructing a service road.”

FROM 30 TO 5 MINUTES

Upon completion, he said, the project would increase the capacity of Airport St. by an additional 5,000 vehicles per hour, enhance the traffic safety level, and reduce the transit time on Airport St. from Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road to Casablanca St. from 30 minutes to 5 minutes.

“The improvement of the Airport St. Project encompasses the improvement of Rashidiya Intersection through constructing a bridge on Airport St. of three lanes in each direction, which would slash the waiting time at the intersection significantly,” said Al Tayer.

DIRECT ACCESS TO TERMINAL 1

“Upgrading the intersection of the Airport–Casablanca Streets includes the construction of an additional single-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Airport St. in the direction of Casablanca St., eliminating the waiting time at the light signal.