How accessible is your Dubai community?

Traffic jams are a given in a city that is continuously growing as Dubai.

Only few people find it pleasant to encounter one, while majority take them for granted. However, if a jam means that you find yourself in the same location for more than an hour, even the happiest driver may find it difficult to be patient.

Hundreds of residents coming from Discovery Garden community experienced that in January this year. Exiting the area seemed a mission impossible, partially due to a road closure and bad weather. After hours of waiting, many motorists returned home, either calling it a day or finding alternative ways to reach work.

Residents of Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), another popular community in the southern half of Dubai, also experienced a similar period. Road works were the trigger of hour-long snarls, and many commuters could not leave their community.

In both these cases, situations were effectively corrected within a reasonable time frame.

With a rapidly growing population and residential self-sustaining communities being one of the preferred living options in Dubai, we asked an expert to elaborate the key successes of an accessible community infrastructure.

Hussein al Banna, Director of the Traffic Department, Road and Transport Authority (RTA), says there are many elements that influence accessibility, and there is no one party to be held responsible.

A master developer is at task to develop a land, he says. “Land use generates traffic and this traffic generation needs traffic management study. Any development should take into account the infrastructure.”

Without a traffic management plan a community cannot become a success, he continuous. However, each traffic situation requires a different solution. “Take Mirdif for example. Without the bridges the community would not have succeeded, people would not have flocked to the community.”

Where bridges formed a key element towards an accessible community in Mirdif, the solution was in a double-decked road infrastructure in the area of Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, he points out.

“Sometimes it is a roundabout, sometimes a signal or an intersection that improves traffic. In Umm Suqeim, we recently replaced the intersections with an elevated bridge to create free flow of traffic towards Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road and Al Qudrah Road. It eased the traffic a lot. However, we are now constructing a new intersection to provide easier access to this bridge.”

Although the RTA is responsible for the execution of infrastructure, it is the master developer that should initiate the project. A fruitful cooperation between the parties is key to a successful community infrastructure, he explains.

“Some master developers come to us. They discuss the project, sign an agreement and contribute with a certain share.  But some developers may be hesitant to do this. In the end the residents face the brunt.

“Nowadays most developers realise that they must approach us and deal with the situation,” he continues. At the same time, the projects cannot all be carried out at once. This requires good planning.

“We have a committee that communicates with all the developers. We know exactly which community will be developed this year, so we can respond with the construction of the infrastructure. We have an annual priority budget for this. But we also have a capacity plan, because we simply cannot do all the work at the same time. If a development will be completed this year, it will be prioritized. We will start at the beginning of the year and complete by the year-end, because we know there will be an issue if we don’t.”

This being said, congestion will always be there, added Al Banna. “Congestion is healthy. It exists in London, Paris, or Tokyo. Open Google Maps now and you will find congestion, even there were world class transportation is in place.”

Added to this is the safety card, he points out. “Traffic management is also related to safety. If the speed limits are increased, people will get to their location faster, but maybe not safer.

“It is within the mindset of people to want free traffic flow everywhere, but we cannot do that. True, traffic should not be killing, but there are certain levels that we can adjust to.

In conclusion, Al Banna advises commuters to plan their journey, as the road user can make a difference, too. “Before you leave, consider the route you are going to take, and inform yourself about this route. If you hear that there is a traffic accident on the road, use another road. The RTA always publishes tips through its social media platforms. Use these tips!”
 
 

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