RTA to open major Deira-bound bridge at Marrakech Intersection on Airport Street

The Roads and Transport Authority, RTA, will open a bridge at Marrakesh Intersection on Airport Street on Friday, 15th September, as part of the second contract of the Airport Street Improvement Project, to ease the traffic flow towards Deira.

The contractor has completed one of the bridges at Marrakech Intersection from Airport Street towards Khawaneej. The Marrakech Intersection Project includes an overpass on Airport Street, with three lanes in each direction, and a direct ramp from the bridge heading to Terminal 3 of the Dubai International Airport, thus obviating the need for waiting at the traffic lights.

The intersection also includes construction of a two-lane tunnel to serve traffic heading left from Airport Street towards Marrakech Street. The project will cut down the waiting time at the intersection from seven minutes to less than one minute.

As of Friday, vehicles on Airport Street (Marrakech Intersection) on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road and Al Khawaneej Street, will pass through the Rashidiya Intersection in the direction of Deira through the new flyover.

Motorists heading to Umm Rumool may take the right lanes as per the directional signs towards the signalised intersection. The RTA will close the traffic movement coming from Terminal 1 of the Dubai International Airport heading towards Deira to complete the remaining works at the new bridge at Casablanca Intersection (Cargo Village). It will also provide an alternative route through Street No. 51 passing via Casablanca Street.

The project is part of the RTA’s plan to accommodate the projected growth in the number of airport passengers expected to increase to 92 million by 2020. A traffic study highlighted the importance of finalising the project by the end of 2017.

It will contribute to increasing the capacity of Airport Road by 5,000 vehicles per hour, improving traffic safety and reducing travel time on Airport Street from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road to Casablanca Street from 30 minutes to just five minutes. It will also slash the waiting time at Marrakesh Street Intersection from seven minutes to less than one minute.

The Airport Improvement Project, which costs about AED404 million, comprises the construction of four interchanges. This includes the development of the Al Rashidya Interchange through the construction of a flyover on Airport Street with three lanes in each direction. This will reduce the waiting time at the interchange from 13 minutes to less than a minute.

It also involves 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 Airport Street. It will ease the existing traffic congestion resulting from the overlapping movement at the intersection of Nad Al Hamar between the first circular slope heading to the left from Nad Al Hamar Street to Airport Street, and the second circular slope heading left from 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.

The project includes the improvement of the Marrakech-Airport Street Intersection and the Airport-Casablanca Street Intersection, which comprises the construction of an additional one-lane ramp to serve the traffic from Airport Street in the direction of Casablanca Street without waiting at the light signal.

It also comprises the construction of an alternative street for traffic inbound from Al Garhoud, enabling direct access to Terminal 1 and 3 of the Dubai International Airport, besides increasing the number of lanes on Casablanca Street from three to four, in the direction of Al Garhoud. These improvements will reduce the total waiting time at Casablanca Intersection from three minutes to one minute, and ease the existing tailbacks generated by the overlapping traffic heading towards Casablanca Intersection and vehicles coming from Terminal 1 heading leftwards to Casablanca Street.