Diversion of traffic on Dubai Airport Road

Work on the temporary road, that will absorb the existing traffic, is almost over, said Engineer Khalid Mohammed Al Marri, Head of Road Construction Section of Roads Department of Dubai Municipality.

"The diversion work of the existing Airport Road has been carried out in a record time and well ahead of the schedule. This will facilitate the construction of Terminal 3, which will be used exclusively for Emirates airline," he said.

Mr Al Marri said that the diversion would be a dual-carriageway with three-lanes in each direction, and street lighting, to handle the traffic flow coming from Rashidiya to Dubai and from Dubai to Rashidiya. The diversion is part of the construction of a Dh160 million road network project, which involves construction of an open tunnel parallel to Airport Road. The project also involves building of seven tunnels to connect the Airport Road with Terminal 3 to serve passengers arriving and departing by Emirates.

Mr Al Marri said that the work on the project, which began in September 2002, would take 21 months to complete and is expected to be over by mid-June 2004. The project is being implemented in view of the high economic growth and to meet the growing demand of passengers.

The Cargo Village Access Roads have been improved and a new flyover would be constructed across Al Garhoud Road, which will provide access from Cargo Village towards Garhoud, as part of the project, he said. Also, a new road will be constructed from Cargo Village to provide access to Al Qusais area.