Major upgrade of Ras Al Khor Street in Dubai to open to drivers on Saturday

Congestion-cutting scheme set up to cope with surge in visitors to expanded Dragon Mart in International City

The second phase of a major upgrade of Ras Al Khor Street has been completed. Courtesy RTA

A major road revamp aimed at tackling a surge in visitors to International City in Dubai will open to the public on Saturday.

The second phase of the upgrade scheme for Ras Al Khor Street and the entrance to International City has now been completed, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority has said.

The improvement works have been carried out in partnership with Nakheel, the master developers of International City.

The project was set up to manage an expected rise in traffic following the expansion of the popular Dragon Mart shopping centre.

The improvements include widened junctions on Al Manama Street and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, and International City and Al Manama Street, plus the construction of bridges and junctions with signals to ensure easy movement of traffic in all directions.

The upgrades on Al Manama Street-Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road include widening the flyover above Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road from three to four lanes in each direction to increase its capacity from 4,500 to 6,000 vehicles per hour.

Also, Al Manama Street has been widened from the entrance of the International City up to Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan Street from two to five lanes in each direction. This is expected to increase the capacity of the street from 3,000 vehicles per hour to 7,500 vehicles per hour.

The number of lanes on Ras Al Khor Street to Sharjah, and from the International City to Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi has been increased from one to two.

The first phase of the Ras Al Khor improvement plan was launched in July 2018.