The new 62-kilometre motorway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, named in honor of the UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, has been opened to traffic.
The Dh2.1 billion Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Road will share traffic with Sheikh Zayed Road to ease congestion between the two cities.
The new road, which connects to the Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road on route E311, is an alternative to the existing Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway, the Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Road (E11), reported Gulf News.
At the formal inauguration, officials from the Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport (DMAT) reportedly said the highway should ease congestion on E11, especially during peak hours.
The inauguration was attended by Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council; Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; and a host of other government officials.
The new Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid road comprises four lanes in each direction with a total of eight lanes. It was constructed at a cost of Dh2.1 billion by Musanada, a government-owned firm that provides construction, contracting and facilities management services to public entities, the report said.
“The highway can carry a total of 8,000 vehicles per hour. It includes six interchanges and six underpasses to ease the flow of traffic. And while there are no petrol stations along the stretch yet, two stations, one for either side of the road, are being constructed. They should be open by the third quarter of 2017,” Shamsa Al Shamsi, project manager at Musanada, reportedly said.
The route begins from Sweihan Interchange on the Abu Dhabi-Sweihan Road and extends until the Abu Dhabi-Dubai border near Seih Shuaib. In the outbound direction from the capital, the highway passes by Al Maha Forest, the Forestry Green Belt, Kizad, Abu Mureikha and the Zayed Military Camp, continuing on to Mohammad Bin Zayed Road near Seih Shueib.
It is lit with 2,000 lighting poles, and the hard shoulders of the road are three metres wide. There are six lay-bys designed to be used as patrol points for police, ambulance and other emergency providers. Emergency response vehicles will also be able to take U-turns at five points along the road.
The highway also has the capacity for expansion that could add two additional lanes on either side of the road in the future, GN reported.
