Dubai traffic flow in business district, urban areas among smoothest in the world

Dubai has outperformed major global cities like Los Angeles, Montreal, Sydney, Berlin, Rome, and Milan in terms of the average time needed to travel a distance of 10km in its central business district (CBD).

According to the 2022 traffic index report by TomTom — which monitors congestion and traffic worldwide — the journey time in Dubai’s CBD was recorded at 12 minutes per 10km, compared to the average of 21 minutes per 10km. The best-performing city on this index was Almere in the Netherlands, with 8 minutes per 10km. The lowest-performing city was London, with 36 minutes needed to cover the distance.

In the same index, Dubai recorded a time of 9 minutes per 10km in urban areas, with an average speed of 59kmph. This compares to the top-performing city, Greensboro in the US, with 7 minutes and 40 seconds per 10km and an average speed of 74kmph. Meanwhile, the lowest-performing city was Bogota in Colombia, with 24 minutes per 10km and an average speed of 19kmph.

The index analyses 390 cities across 56 countries, covering over 543 billion kilometres of road networks. Dubai has been ranked among the world’s 50 best cities on the index.

Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), highlighted how the city’s transport infrastructure has grown over the years.

“The RTA has carried out many road projects that contributed to expanding the total length of the road network from 8,715 lane-kilometres in 2006 to 18,475 in 2022. The number of bridges and underpasses climbed 8-fold from 129 in 2006 to 884 in 2022, while the number of pedestrian bridges and underpasses has soared 5-fold from 26 to 122 during the same period.

“The length of the cycling tracks increased from 9km in 2006 to 543km in 2022. The RTA’s efforts and plans were not limited to developing the infrastructure but also focused on developing public transport networks and implementing transport policies aimed at reducing dependence on private vehicles.”

The projects undertaken by the RTA have enhanced the UAE’s global competitiveness and ranked it first in the quality of roads worldwide for five years in a row.

Al Tayer said RTA projects’ total cumulative value of time and fuel savings amounted to over Dh262 billion between 2006 and 2022. When it comes to traffic safety, road incident-related fatalities have decreased from 22 cases per 100,000 of the population in 2006 to 1.9 in 2022.

“The RTA’s fully integrated public transport network has now become the backbone of people’s movement around Dubai, with the ridership of public transport, shared mobility and taxis increasing from 163 million passengers in 2006 to 621.4 million in 2022, with a daily average rate of 1.7 million," said Al Tayer.

"The public transport network has contributed to reducing dependence on private vehicles and reducing traffic congestion. The network was successful in persuading a change in the culture and mindsets of the community towards adopting public transportation and become the first choice of mobility for a large segment of the community and visitors,” he added.

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