Not many JLT users yet for new community bridge

A new bridge was opened in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) this weekend, the first delivery in a series of improvements promised to the community.

On Sunday morning, however, little improvement was witnessed in the traffic situation. According to some, the situation had deteriorated. But some said traffic exiting to Sheikh Zayed Road had become smoother.

The new bridge links the southern side of the road parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road to the northern side. To be more precise, the bridge starts at the height of JLT metro station, and descends in front of the first northern clusters.

Commuters can now cross from south to north, without making the U-turn in between.

Few people were grateful, as a revived traffic chaos was witnessed from the early hours of this week's first working day.

“Traffic in JLT at 7am. Seriously?!?!?” tweeted a person by the name @ShruthiR11. When asked about the opening of the new bridge, she commented: “It is so odd it just connects the two bits of JLT. Hasn't helped the traffic in any way if you ask me.”

A person by the Twitter handle @rmdarnell commented on the traffic situation saying: “Worse this morning than usual. With new system I actually go North on SZR and do U-Turn at Marina to get to AD.

According to him, the five lanes previously coming from the northern clusters now merge into two lanes, with only one lane heading towards Sheikh Zayed Road.

“My wife is stuck in traffic... Bridge only links north and south clusters. Very little use,” he added.

At 8am Meesha Chakrabarty, a community resident living in the northern clusters, said traffic was bad as usual, although traffic exiting to Sheikh Zayed Road had become smoother.

When visiting the community at 9am, the image was of an empty new bridge, while traffic on the back side of the community was stuck as usual.

The traffic situation in JLT has been the talk of the town this month. Anybody living in, visiting or passing by the community has seen or experienced what is considered the worst traffic jam the community has ever faced.

Although residents claim that traffic has always been a nightmare during peak hours, ongoing road works worsened the situation, leading to hour-long standstills earlier this month. (https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/jlt-traffic-gridlock-eases-after-office-goers-got-stuck-for-hours-residents-unable-to-exit-buildings-2013-09-09-1.520354)

Early September, two road closures were announced. Residents were asked by master developer Dubai Multi-Commodities Center (DMCC) to bear with the chaos, with the announcement on August 5 that the traffic flow would be temporarily disrupted over the next six to eight weeks.

By the end of September, parts of the project will be inaugurated, said the Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) in a comment to Emirates 24|7 last week.

DMCC announced on its website two weeks ago: “The RTA’s contractors have unilaterally sped up the road works and moved ahead with completion of the road in front of Clusters C, D & E (the road parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road by the JLT metro station). This is required to facilitate the opening of the overhead bridge connecting the South (Jebel Ali) and North (Dubai) sides of JLT which will enhance the flow of traffic.”

“By the end of September, parts of the project will be inaugurated. However, the entire project is scheduled to finish up by the end of 2013.”

“During this period of time, all roads and bridges will be inaugurated in phases,” explained Maitha bin Adai, CEO, Traffic and Roads Agency, RTA.

The road works form part of the ongoing parallel roads improvement project carried out by the RTA.

On completion of the project Al Khail First Road will be extended to Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road, Discovery Gardens and Ibn Batuta Mall. In addition, seven additional bridges are to be built and existing internal roads and exit roads from Sheikh Zayed Road will be improved.

“We would like to bring to your attention that work at this area is in full swing to finish up the task ASAP so as to reduce the traffic jam,” added Maitha.

“On completion, an integrated network of roads will be provided that go with the size of traffic in the area. The area will also be connected to Sheikh Zayed Road and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road via more than one point.”
 

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