Double-decker Sheikh Zayed Road tender up

It would be a first in the UAE and in the wider region; a double-decked highway where lanes not only accumulate in width but provide additional space on a second tier built above the ground.

Apart from it being a spectacle, it would form a solution that would double the capacity of an existing road…a road like Sheikh Zayed Road, for example.

A double-decked Sheikh Zayed Road has been proposed, discussed, rumoured, reported, and after all denied by the authorities concerned.

However, the Internet offers hints and suggestions that a second tier of the most-ridden highway in the emirate is in the planning.

On a website summarising running tenders in the UAE, a tender titled ‘Sheikh Zayed Road Double-Decking Project’ was last published on July 31 this year, less than a week ago.

The work of the job is described as ‘carrying out double-decking/elevating of a road’. 

However, this project has generally been referred to as the construction of a bridge on this part of the road, and works on this project are to commence at the end of this year. So, they are likely to have been awarded some time ago.

In January this year, a media report first suggested that the double-decking of Sheikh Zayed Road was in the planning.

“The RTA is already exploring ways to tackle congestion. The most ambitious scheme so far is the double-decking of Sheikh Zayed Road. If it goes ahead, the project will involve building a 35-kilometre elevated section of highway running from Dubai Creek to Jebel Ali Port,” said a Middle East Economic Digest report.

Read: Double-decked Sheikh Zayed Road in the planning?

However, when Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) was asked, the assumption was firmly denied.

“In order to address the general traffic congestion in Dubai focusing in particular on key strategic corridors like Sheikh Zayed Road, RTA continuously tries to make an effort to be proactive and come up with various traffic management strategies to alleviate the situation.

“However, the subject report is not correct,” Maitha bin Adai, CEO of the Traffic and Road Agency at RTA, told Emirates 24|7.

Read: No second tier corridor above Sheikh Zayed Road

While the tender was published at least twice (once before on March 30, 2014), the status of the tender is until now ‘new tender’, contrary to other tenders that are described as ‘current project’ or ‘completed tender’. 

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