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29 March 2024

New exit for Discovery Gardens, Gardens

Communities that will benefit from the new exit include Maskin Al Furjan. (Supplied)

Published
By Parag Deulgaonkar

Thousands of residents living in the master communities of the Gardens, Discovery Gardens, Al Furjan and Maskin Al Furjan will no longer have to endure peak-hour traffic jams, as the Roads & Transportation Authority (RTA) is working on a new exit to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (formerly Emirates Road).

“We are looking for permanent solutions to reduce congestion in Discovery Gardens and we will connect the area through a new project, which is now in the design stage,” Maitha bin Adai, CEO of Traffic and Roads Corporation at RTA told Emirates 24|7.


Communities that will benefit from the new exit include The Gardens. (Supplied)

“The project will provide a connection from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road to an interchange at Sheikh Zayed Road and to Discovery Gardens,” she stated.

Though it is not known when the work on the new connection will start, residents have been voicing concern over the years requesting for new access roads to these master communities, which house nearly 30,000 residential units (villas and apartments).


Communities that will benefit from the new exit include Al Furjan. (Supplied)


The situation was aggravated last month when a water pipeline burst, closing the main road to Sheikh Zayed Road for three days.

Residents were left with no other alternative but to use the Jebel Ali Village exit. Reaching it took over 45 minutes.

According to property agents, when properties in Discovery Gardens were sold there was a mention of the community having road links to Emirates Road as well.

In fact, to ease traffic congestions for residents of the plush Al Furjan villa community, Nakheel, the master developer of the above mentioned communities, floated a tender on July 30 for construction of four external links/ramps connecting the development to Road D57.

Minor accident, major jam

Avantika Sen, a resident of Discovery Gardens since 2008, says: “Traffic is still an issue in Discovery Gardens especially during the peak hours. A minor accident and it takes nearly 40 to 50 minutes to reach Sheikh Zayed Road.”

She adds: “In the evenings it is the worst. There is so much of traffic every day that queues stretch to Sheikh Zayed Road from inside the community. It takes at least more than 40 minutes to reach my home.”

Antony Gomez, another resident of Discovery Gardens, argues: “There should have been a connection from Discovery Gardens and Al Furjan to Emirates Road as it would have eased traffic flow.”

He claims that the traffic flow is currently smooth since schools haven’t reopened and people are still on vacation.

“The traffic jams will begin once families are back from their vacation and schools reopen.”

However, traffic issues haven’t impacted prices of properties.

Emirates 24|7 reported that sales transactions in Discovery Gardens average prices had jumped by 18 per cent to Dh692.8 per square foot (psf) compared to Dh587 psf in the first six months of 2013 compared to the same period last year.

Master communities

Discovery Gardens, which spans over 26 million square feet with 291 buildings, has over 26,000 residential units. The development consists of six themed communities inspired by garden living, and includes Zen, Mediterranean, Contemporary, Mogul, Mesoamerican and Cactus courtyard gardens.

The Gardens is a leasehold project owned by Nakheel. The community spread over 220 hectares, which consists of 129 low-rise buildings of 3,828 apartments of one, two and three bedroom

Masakin Al Furjan consists of a total of 335 apartments, while Al Furjan development has over 1,500 villas.