A transport leader helping to drive progress on the Dubai Loop has told of the complex challenges of building a high-speed underground road system, but promised there will be "no interruption of traffic".
Pierre Santoni, president of infrastructure in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Parsons Corporation, said construction will involve tunnelling beneath the city, ensuring that crucial utilities and the foundations of high-rise buildings are not affected along the way.
Parsons – previously named as project management consultants for the Dubai Metro Blue Line – was in May awarded a nine-month contract to support the design of the scheme, led by Elon Musk's Boring Company.
“Underneath there's a lot of utilities. You have foundations from those tall buildings of DIFC and going towards the mall [Dubai Mall]. You have a number of underground utilities – water, power, electricity, gas lines that are there,” he said.
“You need to avoid all that. So weaving through that, and you have a tunnel that from DIFC going towards Business Bay, you have a tunnel there that goes through downtown, so you need to avoid all of this.”
Construction work on the first phase of the Dubai Loop is set to begin next year - and is set to be up-and running in two years - and comes after tunneling work began for the Blue Line earlier this month.
The Dubai Metro Gold Line - a further extension of the public transport network due to open in 2032 - will be a 42km underground route, highlighting how the emirate is digging deep to reduce traffic congestion.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said in February that the first phase of Dubai Loop would cost Dh565 million ($153.8 million) and connect DIFC with Dubai Mall as an alternative transit network built beneath the city's roads, using autonomous Tesla cars.
The first four stations will be in Burj Khalifa, DIFC 2, Zabeel Dubai Mall Parking and ICD Brookfield Place.
The network will eventually cover 22km and have 19 stations.
No disruption to traffic
While the Dubai Loop will be built to serve busy areas of the city, Mr Santoni said motorists should not be concerned about roadworks and traffic delays, which are often associated with major transport projects above ground.
“The impact will be very minimal,” he said. “You will have a small access area where the construction will be. The plot has been allocated, a vacant plot around that will be fenced. As far as everybody's concerned, there will be no impact. That's why the solution was selected. There's no interruption of traffic or anything like that envisaged.”
When it is up and running, Dubai Loop aims to slash travel times from DIFC to Dubai Mall from 20 minutes to only three, and will eventually transport more than 13,000 passengers a day between key business and tourism destinations.
Fleets of bookable electric vehicles will speed through tunnels measuring 3.6 metres in diameter.
Parsons keen to stay in the loop
Parsons is keen to continue working on the major infrastructure scheme beyond its initial, short-term contract and will discuss potential construction involvement with the Boring Company in the coming weeks.
“It certainly is our intention. We will be talking to Dubai, to The Boring Company in due time about that,” he said.
The project remains in the design phase, with construction expected to start in about nine months, Mr Santoni said.
Beating rush hour
Mr Santoni envisions people hopping in a Tesla from the DIFC to grab lunch at The Dubai Mall and making it back by the end of their lunch break, without rushing.
“It's very frustrating because you can see it's right there and sometimes it could take you 20-25 minutes to get there. We've all done it, but now you get into that and you exit directly there three minutes later, so you can go there for lunch and come back”.
A similar network is already operational in Las Vegas, connecting the city's Convention Centre with Harry Reid International Airport.
Mr Santoni believes the Dubai version will be a success. “it's a short distance. It's relatively straight. I suspect we're not gonna have too many problems with operations.”
Not without its challenges
Digging tunnels comes with many challenges, especially in cities, where sewer systems, pipes, and building foundations populate the underground world. These must be carefully navigated.
“The challenge is largely associated with first getting underground in a very dense area. The Boring Company technology is very applicable to dense urban environments. It minimises the footprint of the access shaft and the exit shaft of the tunnel-boring machine,” Mr Santoni said.
UAE push for self-driving vehicles
The UAE wants 25 per cent of all trips to be autonomous by 2030. One reason Elon Musk's The Boring Company is so attractive is the project's potential for automation. The initial roll-out will include drivers, but the Teslas will go fully self-driving “very soon after the system opens”.
“This is the way of the future. This is how the Teslas have been designed, to become fully autonomous. I think we're going to get there very quickly,” said Mr Santoni. “We're very close to full autonomy there.”
