Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that the last bridge in the World Trade Centre roundabout development project will open to traffic on Friday, October 30. The new bridge stretches 1,000 metres with two lanes and is designed to handle around 3,000 vehicles per hour.
RTA Director-General Mattar Al Tayer said the project "will deliver a major improvement in traffic flow through free-flowing connections in multiple directions." According to the authority, once the bridge opens, journey time between Al Majlis Street and 2nd December Street will drop from six minutes to just one minute, a change that will be immediately noticeable to the thousands of drivers who pass through daily.
The full World Trade Centre roundabout project comprises five bridges with a combined length of 5,000 metres, at a total cost exceeding Dh696 million. The RTA expects that once the entire project is complete, average delay at the intersection will fall from 12 minutes to just 90 seconds, a dramatic shift for one of Dubai's busiest junctions.
The World Trade Centre roundabout links Sheikh Zayed Road with several of the city's central arteries, making it one of the most heavily used intersections in Dubai. The RTA has pursued similar multi-bridge upgrades at other major interchanges across the emirate in recent years to keep pace with population growth and rising vehicle numbers.
With this bridge opening, a project that has taken months to build reaches a new milestone in Dubai's traffic infrastructure, and officials expect a noticeable easing of peak-hour congestion in the area in the weeks ahead.