Official explains why Capital needs tolls
abu dhabi — The number of vehicles on the roads of Abu Dhabi is increasing at a rapid pace — and so is traffic congestion. The need to check this growing problem was the reason behind the need to introduce tolls on all four major bridges in Abu Dhabi, a top transport official said on Monday.
Ibrahim Sarhan Al Hamoudi, acting executive director for the surface transport sector at the Department of Transport — Abu Dhabi (DoT), explained the issue to community members in a private chat at the Mohammed Khalaf Majlis.
He said that by the end of 2018, there were 1.1 million registered vehicles in Abu Dhabi. “There are just too many vehicles on the roads. This has resulted in too much traffic, especially in the morning and evening hours.”
Al Hamoudi underlined that there are more than 44,000 vehicles on the road every hour, which was a dangerous trend. “Every day, you have 24,000 vehicles entering and exiting the city every hour in the morning and almost the same number in the evening hours. Toll gates will help reduce the traffic on the roads by eight per cent. This will have a positive impact on the environment, too.”
He noted that in the past decade, the Abu Dhabi government has spent Dh32 billion on roads just in the Capital city.
“There are lots of new innovative developments you will see in future.”
From today, toll gates will be operational but motorists will not be charged until January 1, 2020.
Toll gates will help reduce the traffic on the roads by eight per cent. This will have a positive impact on the environment, too.” Ibrahim Sarhan Al hamoudi, acting executive director for the surface transport sector, DoT