Karama bridge opening in Jan to ease traffic
dubai — Residents of Dubai’s Karama and Mankhool areas can now rest easy as the chockablock traffic conditions at the ‘Sana junction’ will soon be history. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will open the main bridge on the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street in January 2018, the authority announced on Saturday.
The bridge is part of a larger project at the crowded traffic intersection, that is now “70 per cent complete”, according to the RTA.
dubai — Residents in Karama and Mankhool, Bur Dubai, heaved a sigh of relief as the perennially chockablock traffic congestion on the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, commonly known as the ‘Sana Junction’, is finally set to be jam-free.
Once completed, the corridor project will ease traffic moving in and out of Jafaliya, Mankhool, and Karama.
Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), announced that the RTA would open the main bridge on Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street in January 2018.
The bridge extends 700 metres and can accommodate 3,300 vehicles per hour. The Dh611 million upgradation work on the crowded traffic intersection began back in September 2016.
Al Tayer revealed that the RTA would open a tunnel linking Al Garhoud and Mina Rashid in both directions in the second quarter of 2018, noting that the completion rate of the entire project had reached 70 per cent.
The project is located at the intersection of Sheikh Rashid Street in the direction of the northern end of Al Shindagha network, and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street in the direction of the intersection with Al Kuwait Street.
Al Tayer said: “The project also entails a tunnel of four lanes in each direction on the Sheikh Rashid Street, in the direction of the intersection with Al Mankhool
I would get stuck for several hours when construction was ongoing… This is amazing news.” Anil Krishna, Karama resident
Street; a signalised junction under the bridge provides free turns from main roads to subsidiary roads.”
He added: “The bridge has a one-directional ramp stretching from Umm Hurair Street to Sheikh Rashid Street. It also includes lighting, pavement, irrigation, sewage, storm-water drainage works as well as the shifting of utility lines such as electricity, water and telecommunication.”
Residents welcome new bridge Residents are overjoyed at the fact that traffic in this intersection will finally ease up. Karama and Mankhool are densely populated areas, and traffic has been at a stand-still especially during peak hours since the construction began last year.
Anil Krishna, a Karama resident, said: “The only way to enter Karama from Sheikh Zayed Road is through the Sana Junction. It is either this or through Maktoum Bridge, but that is a really long and roundabout route. Since this junction was so crowded, all other routes were chockablock as well.”
He is relieved about the opening up of the new bridge. “I would get stuck for several hours when construction was ongoing… This is amazing news,” he added.
Another resident, Marvin Balita who works in Karama, said: “I stopped driving altogether since the construction began. Since the area is well connected by the Metro, it wasn’t too stressful… But every time I drove, I would get stuck in traffic for long.” Balita too expressed relief at the fact that the construction is done. “I can drive to work now,” he added.
The construction of the Sheikh Rashid-Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Streets Intersection Project is concurrent with the opening of the Improvement of Wafi Intersection Project in April 2016. “Wafi Intersection is considered one of the vital junctions in Dubai, intersecting with Sheikh Rashid Street and Oud Metha Street,” Al Tayer noted.
It encompassed the construction of a three-lane bridge from Oud Metha Street, near Latifa Hospital, in the direction of Sheikh Rashid Street, and from there to Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Sa’ada Street, Upper Deck leading to the Dubai World Trade Centre.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com