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by: Vessy Nick



  Owning a car is a commonplace affair in Dubai. Rising fuel costs, which drivers in most other countries throughout the world have to face, is not something that Dubai motorists have to worry about. Add to that the benefits of a tax-free environment and it becomes quite clear why personal vehicles are the most preferred means of transportation in the city at the moment. However, Dubai residents have now started to experience the negative sides of having that many vehicles on the road.

  Traffic congestions have become a part of the city’s daily routine and lines of queuing cars, often times several kilometres long, are now a common sight at key junctions and roads. A resident in Dubai’s Greens development said the 30-kilometre commute home currently takes her twice as much time as it did a year ago. “The situation is becoming more and more difficult every month,” she said. 

  A look at Dubai’s demographics reveals that traffic congestion will remain an issue for the city’s residents for some time to come. Currently there are 465,000 vehicles registered in Dubai, in addition to 5,000 taxi cars. However, there is a significant amount of residents of neighbouring emirates who are working in the city. This means there are more than a million vehicles on Dubai’s roads, making an average of 3.1 million trips each day. What is more, the number of vehicles in use is increasing rapidly. The annual growth rate of vehicles in Dubai is currently 12 per cent and the growth pattern is likely to continue. It is expected that Dubai’s population will reach four million in 2020, while the number of trips is expected to go up to a staggering 13.1 million trips per day.

  Clearly, the current road network needs an improvement and this is exactly what Dubai Municipality is planning to do. According to Eng. Nasser Ahmed Saeed, Director of Roads Department and Coordinator of Dubai Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project, a total of around Dhs.4 billion (US$ 1.1 billion) will be invested in Dubai’s road system in the next couple of years. This is a significant investment, considering the fact that the net worth of the city’s road network currently stands at Dhs.9.1 billion (US$ 2.52 billion).

  The plans include extensive improvements on one of the city’s main arteries, Sheikh Zayed Road. Also pending is a forth crossing over the Creek, near Festival City. This will help facilitate the flow of traffic between Deira and the rest of the city, which is currently a major problem. The fourth crossing will connect to a new road, parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road, which will run from the Sharjah border to Abu Dhabi. There is more good news for those driving to and from Sharjah as new lanes will be added to the Emirates Road to cater to a larger volume of vehicles. In addition, there will be a bypass from the Emirates Road to the capital, which will be used by heavy vehicles.

  Dubai’s major streets will soon boast a variable message sign system, which will be providing motorists with updated information on traffic conditions, thus helping to avoid jams. Most of the above-mentioned projects will be finished by the end of next year.

  While there are substantial improvements coming up, they are not likely to eliminate traffic problems altogether. “Sometimes problems cannot be solved by an engineering solution as the volume of cars is much larger than the capacity of the road network,” Saeed said, adding “It is wrong to say that you can always solve traffic problems by building new roads and bridges”. According to him, often times it is a question of managing the existing road network rather than enlarging it.

  Saeed stressed on the need to put more control on the roads so as to better manage the traffic flow. Better management includes restricting the hours during which heavy vehicles can use the roads and having slightly different working hours for the various sectors in the economy to avoid large aggregations of cars at particular hours. Collecting toll at the busiest highways is another option, which the Municipality is investigating at the moment.

  One solution to the current traffic problems is to encourage more people to use the mass transit bus system in the city. “Improving the mass transport system is one of the most important ways [to manage traffic],” Saeed said. At the moment, some 200,000 passengers are using the bus network every day. Although there are no statistics on the issue, Dubai bus users seem to belong to the lowest earning portions of the population with higher-earning professionals deeming car ownership a matter of prestige.

  Saeed is determined to change this. “If there is a good-quality door-to-door service available, then, there is no need to have a car,” he said. According to him, customers should not walk for more than 300 metres to be able to take advantage of the bus service. Currently there are 537 busses in Dubai, serving 58 routes. The municipality plans on increasing the number of busses in an attempt to service a bigger part of the city. Plans are also underway to improve the lay-bys on each route to make waiting for the bus a more pleasant experience.

  A major solution to traffic congestion problems is the Dubai LRT  project, which the municipality has been researching and designing since 2003. “Dubai metro will be a solution to so many problems because one lane of metro equals up to 60 road lanes,” Saeed said. The benefits of the light train project include reducing the number of cars on Dubai’s roads, facilitating traffic and increasing road safety. The project is also an environmentally-friendly alternative to cars and busses and will help reduce pollution in the city. With a carrying capacity of up to 50,000 passengers per hour, the mass transit system will be able to meet public demand until well beyond 2020. 

  Currently the Dhs12.5 billion (US$ 3.47 billion) project is at its final stage of bidding and five consortia have been short listed for making final offers. “We have finally completed the detailed engineering and project design and the document has been made available to the five bidding consortia to make their offers,” said Saeed.

  The bidding process has two stages. Technical bids have been submitted already, while the commercial and final bid is scheduled for 28 February, 2005.The consortia are expected to attach a financing solution along with their offers that will cover 90 per cent of the project’s cost, with a repayment and recovery schedule ranging from 12 to 20 years, mostly from the annual operational income. The Dubai government will invest the remaining 10 per cent of the balance. The contract is expected to be awarded by March or April 2005, with site work to start in May 2005.

  Phase 1 of the project covers 43 kilometres and will run from the Rashidiya depot to the American University of Dubai. Completion date for Phase 1 is May 2009. Phase 2 will add an additional 29 kilometres to the network, covering the distance between the American University of Dubai and Jebel Ali Port. Another line will connect the Dubai Airport Free Zone and Dubai Healthcare City. Work will start after the completion of Phase 1 and is scheduled for completion in 2012.

  Both lines will feature elevated and underground sections with two interchange stations at Union Square and Bur Juman.

  About 30 per cent of the project will be underground, while the remainder will be on tracks elevated above the ground. The underground system will be implemented in the central parts of Dubai to preserve the city’s beauty, while elevated tracks will be built in the external parts of the emirate.

  There will be a total of 55 stations built at one to three kilometre gaps. There will be 99 trains each with five compartments, including first class and a special compartment for women and children. The trains will be automated and there would be no drivers operating them. There are also plans to use the network to transport goods around town during night in order to make the project more feasible.

  According to Saeed, the project will generate more than Dhs.500 million per year (US138.8 million), $ with a possible fare structure averaging Dhs.3 per person per trip. Operational and maintenance costs are expected to come at Dhs.200 million per year.

  Exciting as the changes to come are, in the short run, motorists will still have to deal with traffic congestion. Saeed’s advice is to avoid rush hours if possible and to drive safe as accidents cause big delays for everyone on the road.

Traffic Congestion Around the World

  The United Nations projects that there will be 23 mega-cities or urban areas with a population of more than 10 million people, around the world by 2015. As the world’s urban populations are growing so is the problem of traffic congestion.

  Traffic management tools are expected to become even more popular with the word’s urban planners. Almost two years ago, London introduced a £5-a-day London congestion charge and it seems that other cities are to soon follow suit.

  According to the Observer, 26 out of 34 cities in 15 European countries have showed 'significant support' for some form of charging. Across 11 countries in Latin America, 47 per cent of cities claimed 'significant support' and a further 40 per cent were 'thinking about it'.

   

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