UAE commuters welcome plans for Abu Dhabi-Dubai motorway extension

Evening traffic flows smoothly on the E11 motorway near Al Raha yesterday. A new Abu Dhabi-Dubai motorway has been announced which is an extension to Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road that will provide an alternative route for commuters travelling between the two cities. Silvia Razgova / The NationalShow less

DUBAI // A new motorway linking Dubai and Abu Dhabi cannot be built soon enough, commuters and traffic experts have said.

Work on the extension of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road (E311) from Dubai all the way to Al Sweihan Road (E20) in the capital should be finished by 2017.

The cost of the 62 kilometre road is Dh2.1 billion and will be built in two phases and the total time of the work will be 30 months.

It is believed the motorway could replace the circuitous truck road that goes from the end of the E311 to Abu Dhabi, as well as provide an alternative route for commuters travelling between the two cities.

“At the moment, we’ve only got the E11, we haven’t really got an equivalent for commuters,” said Simon Labbett, regional director for the Transport Research Laboratory.

“This would spread traffic between the two routes and improve congestion on the E11.”

He added that it also would provide a better alternative for lorries that have to use a dedicated road between the two emirates that is sometimes not as time efficient as it could be.

“It’s non-continuous and takes a long time to go from A to B,” he added. “This would be a single, direct road and would improve freight traffic between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“This will be a huge commercial benefit for the two emirates, especially with freight traffic increasing with the development of Khalifa Port.”

The road is being developed by Abu Dhabi General Services, or “Musanada”, who on Saturday awarded the contracts to Ghantoot Transport, Tristar Engineering, and Abu Dhabi Salini Costruttori.

It will extend from the end of the E311, through Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi.

The construction of the new road is based on projections of population growth over the next two decades. The E11 is used by 700 vehicles an hour at peak time, but that is due to grow to 12,000 by 2030.

Mr Labbett stressed that any increase in traffic growth needed to factor in the impact from Etihad Rail, which will link Dubai and Abu Dhabi and would likely provide an alternative means of commuting.

The announcement has been welcomed by commuters. Dean Baxter, 35 from the UK, who lives in Dubai Marina and commutes to the capital for a job in the oil and gas industry, said it would help to improve traffic on the roads.

“If there’s been an accident, there’s no alternative route you can take to Abu Dhabi,” he said. “So you just have to sit in the traffic jam.

“This would at least give people some choice. If you hear on the radio that one road is blocked, but the other is free, it would save some time in the morning.”

Eric Bosch, from the Netherlands, who lives in the Springs and commutes to a job at a shipping firm in the capital, said it was a welcome addition.

“The traffic has got worse over the last year or so,” he said. “Now lots of people are living in Dubai and commuting to Abu Dhabi, and that number will grow.

“It should really have been started a few years ago – 2017 seems like a long time away. They might need it earlier. Maybe they just didn’t believe it would grow as fast as it has.”