Oct. 22--RTA draws up plans for servicing 25 million visitors expected if Dubai's Expo bid succeeds
Dubai's high-standard roads and transport infrastructure has made it a globally unique city, with the Dubai government investing multi-billion Dirhams into the sector over the last six years.
The cash injection was approved with the aim of meeting the needs of the comprehensive constructional and economic development in the emirate, said Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of RTA Matar Al Tayer.
"The efforts made by RTA, and those excreted by the rest of the ministries, federal and local government departments, has contributed greatly to the UAE winning the top position globally in roads quality according to the World Economic Forum (Davos) 2013-2014", he said.
A confident Al Tayer said once Dubai is declared winner as host of the Expo 2020, RTA will chart out, design and carry out the roads and transport projects required for serving the event, creating ease-of-use to the influx of visitors to the city.
Once implemented, the plan will include extending the Dubai Metro's red line, so as to provide a special station to serve the exhibition.
The plan also includes providing environment-friendly buses to carry visitors from main assembly points to the exhibition centre, he said, noting that, it also includes making taxis available to exclusive transport exhibition visitors to the centre.
Improvements will also be made to the roads and intersections in the emirate to allow for a better flow of traffic, with the addition of many road junctions, including changes to Al Yalais Street, an expansion of the end portion of Mohammed bin Zayed Street, and University City Street.
A number of interchange intersections on the roads surrounding the exhibition, internal roads and car parks will also be constructed.
To enable the authority to measure vehicular traffic in an integrative way, a new control system will also be implemented.
Al Tayer said the roads and transport sector's infrastructure in Dubai is semi-completed, requiring only slight changes so as to make way for the 25 million visitors expected to flood the Expo in six months' time, if successful, he revealed.
One of the most important projects on the agenda is the construction of the 14km Dubai Tram, which will run along Al Safouh Road, with its first phase expected to be complete by November next year.
Rail plan
In reference to Dubai's general rail network plan 2030, which has been approved by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Al Tayer said: "The network will expand the geographical coverage radius for the services of the rails network on the level of the urban area of the emirate, that includes all the densely-populated and constructional areas, hence increase the rate of public transport users to achieve the targeted rate for 2030, which is 30 per cent of the volume of the transport movement on a daily basis in the emirate."
He said the routes and locations of the rail networks have been defined on the basis of a number of planning standards which are related to the patterns of the constructional density, distribution of population, economic activities and future prospects for the population increase in different parts of Dubai city.
Link to Ittihad (union) train
The train network suggested for Dubai has been linked to Ittihad train which shall pass through the Emirate of Dubai in three major stations along the train course.
These stations are: Al Maktoum Airport Station: Located east of Al Maktoum Airport along the pathway of Ittihad train. This station has been connected with the violet and blue lines of Dubai Metro to offer an appropriate link to the adjacent areas. This station will mainly serve Al Maktoum Airport and the development projects coming up east of the Dubai Bypass Road.
The Dubailand Station: This station is situated at the middle of Dubailand project and east of the Dubai Bypass Road. The station has been linked up to the gold line proposed within the general blueprint of the train networks which are to come up in Dubai. This station will chiefly serve the development projects at Dubailand and other projects nearby.
Central Station: This station is located west of the Meydan project close to several key development projects in the emirate. This station has been linked to three suggested lines as part of the general plan of the train network including the violet line; green line, and gold lines.
Dubai Tram first in region
The Dubai Tram project extends for a distance of 14.6km along Al Safouh Street. A total of 10.6km shall be completed in the first phase, with the tram course beginning at Dubai Marina and ending near the Dubai Police Academy. In total it will include 17 passenger stations.
The Dubai Tram is the first project to be operated outside Europe, which is run on underground power cables rather than the overhead suspended cables.
In the first phase, a total of 11 stations shall be implemented and as many as 11 trams will be operational, with 14 more trams to be added to the fleet in the second phase, meaning 25 trams in total.
Once operational in 2014, it is expected the Dubai Tram will provide transportation services to 27,000 passengers daily, to 66,000 passengers daily in 2020.
Expansion of road network
When it comes to the infrastructure of roads in the emirate, the RTA, over a short period of time, has fulfilled a lot of achievements. A project which requires a lot of forward planning, the roads network rose by 40 per cent this year, compared to last year, and flyovers increased from 108 to 347, constituting a rise of 221 per cent.
The number of tunnels also jumped from 21 to 57, an increase of 171 per cent, and lanes on Dubai Creek expanded by 153 per cent, from 19 to 48 pathways.
The business bay crossing has been furnished with 13 lanes and Al Garhoud old bridge was replaced with a new one with 14 lanes now being used by motorists.
The floating bridge has come up with a capacity of six lanes, while Al Maktoum Bridge had its lanes increased from nine to 11.
In total, the roads network in Dubai rose from 8,715km in 2005 to 12,215km at end of 2012, an increase of 40 per cent.
Copyright 2013 - Khaleej Times, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
