Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is set to open three new bridges this Friday as part of its Airport Street Improvement Project.

With this move, RTA completes the opening of all bridges on the Airport Street, which considerably contributes to easing the traffic flow, said a statement from the Authority.

A two-lane tunnel will be opened to serve the traffic inbound from the Airport Street heading towards Marrakech Street in July this year, it stated.

Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the RTA board of executive directors, said: "Bridges to be opened include a two-lane bridge to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar Street to the Airport Street. This bridge will ease the snarls resulting from the overlapping traffic at Nad Al Hamar Interchange between the first circular slope heading leftward from Nad Al Hamar to the Airport Street, and the second circular slope heading leftward from the Airport Street to Nad Al Hamar Street."

"The traffic on the first circular slope will be limited to U-turns in the direction of Nad Al Hamar Street," he added.

According to him, the upgradation of Marrakech-Aiport Streets Junction includes the opening of a ramp leading to Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport that enables motorists access to the building without waiting at the junction.

"RTA will also open the bridge leading to the premises of the Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (Ex location of the Dubai Airshow)," he added.

The Airport Improvement Project comprises upgrading four junctions. The first was Rashidiya junction, which includes the construction of two bridges on the Airport Street of three lanes in each direction.

The second includes upgrading the Airport-Nad Al Hamar Streets Junction through constructing a two-lane ramp to serve the traffic from Nad Al Hamar Street to the Airport Street.

The third includes upgrading Marrakech junction by construction of two three-lane bridges along with a ramp leading to Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport without waiting at the signal. It also includes construction of another bridge leading to the premises of Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (formerly Dubai Airshow) and a two-lane underpass to serve traffic heading from Airport Street in the direction of Marrakech Street.

The fourth covers upgrading Casablanca Street junction by construction of an additional single-lane ramp to serve the traffic from Airport Street in the direction of Casablanca Street. It also includes building an alternative route for traffic inbound from Al Garhoud enabling direct access to Airport Terminal 1 and 3, besides increasing the number of lanes of Casablanca Street in the direction of Al Garhoud from 3 to 4.

Al Tayer pointed out that the opening of all bridges at the four junctions increases the intake of the Airport Street by 5,000 vehicles per hour. It would also step up the traffic safety and flow.

"The project is needed to cope with the sharp growth rate in the number of passengers using Dubai International Airport, which is expected to hit 92 million passengers by 2020," he added.-TradeArabia News Service