The E11 is far more than a motorway running along the UAE’s coast – it’s a road that helped stitch a nation together.
Built in stages in the years before and after the UAE’s unification in 1971, and later called the E11, the route not only linked the emirates but also helped shape a shared identity.
This story is at the heart of a talk taking place on Saturday at Dubai’s Etihad Museum. “Offroad Diplomacy: Sheikh Zayed’s domestic tours across six emirates, 1966 to 1976 and the establishment of E11 as the nation’s lifeline” explores how UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, travelled the emirates during a time of immense change, while also laying the foundation for a motorway network that helped bolster national identity.
It is a story that unfolds at a pivotal moment. Sheikh Zayed in 1966 had just become Ruler of Abu Dhabi; the British announced in 1968 their withdrawal from the Arabian Gulf; and plans for the UAE’s unification were being laid against a backdrop of rising Arab nationalism.
“The focus of the talk is about how there was unity before the union,” Annissa Maulina Gultom, the researcher giving the talk, told The National. “This is … what I found. There is a spirit of unity.”
Ms Gultom, also director of the National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah, became interested in the topic when she learnt the first segment of what would become the E11 was opened in 1966 linking Dubai and Sharjah. It became known as Al Ittihad road (the Union road).
Digging through archives in the UAE and abroad, she studied old maps, interviewed experts and spoke to former residents who had worked on early road-building projects including this first Dubai to Sharjah route. It was financed by the Trucial States Council Development Office and designed by UK firm William Halcrow and Partners.
The road started close to the Flame Tower in Dubai, before heading north, passing the RAF base and ending on the outskirts of Sharjah. Before such asphalt roads, motorists had to navigate tracks over sand and sabkha.
Striking archive images show Sheikh Zayed and other leaders opening the new motorway, while an image of the road itself features the Deira Clock Tower clearly visible in the distance.
“It was really the first time they used asphalt in this environment,” Ms Gultom said. “They have to alter the composition so it can stay integrated.”
The E11 was built progressively and was not completed until several years after 1971. It is called different names in different emirates and was later named the E11 because of the “E Route system” - the E stands for Emirates and was adopted in 1995.
Today it stretches from Al Sila, on the border of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, to Ras Al Khaimah, over more than 550 kilometres. Yet from the beginning, it was never just about connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It was also about uniting the federation.
Ms Gultom's talk will aim to trace Sheikh Zayed’s extensive tours across the emirates in the years before and after unification – journeys that helped cement ties long before the road itself was complete.
“It is not just a road project,” she said. “It is really about bridging. According to one of the experts I encountered, after this road connects the Emirates, there was a sense of ‘I'm a citizen’.
"People begin to then travel in cars across the UAE and meet people and become more connected further building that sense of unity."
The route also linked agricultural hubs, water sources, trade centres and, ultimately, communities.
Alongside Saturday’s talk, plans are under way for an interactive map of the E11, inviting residents to design their own road trips, with a larger exhibition expected later. One of Ms Gultom’s most intriguing finds was an early map outlining rough plans for what would eventually become the E311 and E611 motorways.
“Even then, in the 1960s there were plans for those motorways,” she said.
Her research, meanwhile, was supported by the new “Etihad Museum Research Grant”. The grant was launched by the Alserkal Advisory consultancy in collaboration with Etihad Museum and Dubai Culture to expand the museum's role and support new research. More talks and events are scheduled.
“We are excited to see Etihad Museum continue to support projects that investigate the heritage of the UAE,” said Fiza Akram, director of Alserkal Advisory.
“The Etihad Museum research grant is an important step in deepening inquiry into the country’s history, creating space for new perspectives on how the past is researched, understood and shared with future generations.”
The event takes place at the Etihad Museum at 5pm on Saturday. Spaces are limited and people are asked to register on Eventbrite in advance
