RTA Opens New Three-Lane Bridge as Oud Metha–Al Asayel Project Nears Completion

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has opened a major new three-lane bridge as part of the Oud Metha and Al Asayel Streets Development Project, easing one of the city’s busier interchanges and bringing the wider scheme to 90 percent completion.

Opened on Sunday, the bridge has a capacity of 3,600 vehicles per hour and serves traffic travelling from Al Khail Road towards Al Asayel Street via Al Wasl Club Street. It is the latest milestone in a project that forms part of Dubai’s broader Sheikh Rashid Corridor Development Project.

By the numbers
 

What the project delivers

When fully complete, the development is expected to raise the capacity of Oud Metha Street from 10,400 vehicles per hour in both directions to 15,600  a 50 percent increase while cutting average travel time along the corridor from around 20 minutes to just five, a 75 percent improvement. Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, said the scheme is designed to support Dubai’s urban expansion and population growth, noting that the areas it serves including Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha, Umm Hurair, Latifa Hospital and Al Wasl Club are expected to house more than 420,000 residents by 2030.

Still to come by the end of August

The RTA said the remaining works will be delivered in phases, with two tunnels scheduled to open by the end of August. The first will connect the service road on Oud Metha Street to the Sheikh Rashid Road intersection for traffic heading towards Bur Dubai, while the second will carry vehicles from Dubai Al Ain Road towards Al Wasl Club Street, easing current traffic overlaps. A dedicated bridge for left-turn movements from Al Asayel Street towards Oud Metha Street is also due to open in the next phase.

A phased upgrade

In total, the project covers four major intersections, several bridges and two tunnels spanning a combined 4.3 kilometres, alongside upgrades to some 14 kilometres of roads. Earlier this year, the RTA opened two bridges under the same scheme: a two-lane structure at the intersection of Oud Metha Street, Al Asayel Street and Al Wasl Club Street, and a second two-lane bridge at the intersection of Al Wasl Club Street and Al Khail Road serving traffic towards the Business Bay Crossing.

Additional works at the interchange include widening the existing bridge from Al Khail Road towards Oud Metha Street from two lanes to three, increasing the right-turn lanes from Sheikh Rashid Road onto Oud Metha Street towards Dubai–Al Ain Road from two to three, and upgrading the Sheikh Rashid Road service road to improve safety and smooth out congestion. With the final structures due next month, the RTA says the completed corridor will offer faster, safer and more direct journeys for tens of thousands of motorists each day.