Salaam Street tunnel has 157 cameras

The Middle East’s longest traffic tunnel that has just been launched in Abu Dhabi is equipped with 157 cameras to control traffic and any acts that will harm security.

The tunnel, stretching nearly 3.1 km across the capital, has also been equipped with advanced fire detection systems and 99 automatic extinguishers.

“We have installed 157 cameras to ensure 100 per cent coverage of all tunnel parts,” said Abdullah al Shamsi, infrastructure section deputy manager at the Abu Dhabi Municipality, which is managing the tunnel.

Quoted by the semi official daily Alittihad, he said the sophisticated cameras will also monitor speed inside the tunnel and some of them have video capabilities that will provide details of any accident in just 20 seconds.

He said the tunnel is also supplied with nine massive power generators, 20 electronic screens and hundreds of boards to guide motorists on speed limits and other rules.

The Dh5-billion tunnel was inaugurated on Monday after a two-year delay because of technical and topographic snags.

The tunnel has officially been named “Sheikh Zayed Tunnel” while Al Salam street, where the project is located, has also been named “Sheikh Zayed Street.”

South Korea’s Samsung Construction firm has carried out the project, which also links the mainland to the nearby Reem Island, where at least 100,000 inhabitants will live.

More than 2,000 workers have been involved in the construction of the tunnel, which starts from the eastern entrance of Abu Dhabi city and runs under Alsalam street towards Port Zayed on the western tip of the capital.

Around two kilometres of the tunnel are embedded nearly 15 metres underground while the rest is open and near the surface level.
Officials said the tunnel would have a capacity for nearly 12,000 moving cars per hour.

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