Dubai's main road network to be covered by congestion-busting smart traffic system

Project will extend to cover more than 700km of roads across the emirate

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, inaugurates the Smart Centre for Traffic Management. All photos: Dubai Media Office

The Intelligent Traffic System cost Dh590 million ($160.6m) and centralises a network of smart cameras linked to databases.

The traffic centre is one of the biggest and most sophisticated in the world.

It was developed to meet the needs of Dubai's rapid urban growth, the infrastructure expansion required for Expo 2020 Dubai, and also to support current and future transport systems.

The centre expands the coverage of intelligent traffic systems from 11 per cent to 60 per cent of the road network in the emirate and improves detection times for accidents.

More than 110 cameras were installed to measure the average speed of cars, while 17 weather-sensing stations were also established. All data is put into a system monitored by officers who can also issue important messages to the public from the centre.

A Dubai smart traffic management system which has helped cut accident response times and congestion is to expand across the emirate's main road network.

The second phase of the Intelligent Transports Systems project will begin in the coming months, according to the Roads and Transport Authority, and will see the total length of roads covered go from 480 kilometres to 710km.

The work will follow on from the initial phase, which saw the coverage extend to 60 per cent of the emirate’s road infrastructure.

“The project has improved incident monitoring by 63 per cent, shortened the response time to emergencies by 30 per cent, and cut the travel time by 20 per cent,” said Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the RTA's board of executive directors.

“The first phase of the project had seen several achievements highlighted by the construction of the Dubai ITS Centre.

“This facility is one of the largest and most sophisticated traffic control centres worldwide in terms of using smart technology, managing traffic systems, and supporting both current and future transportation modes.”

The centre’s system collects and analyses data to help ensure the smooth flow of traffic and help make instant decisions when it comes to accidents and “mega events” in the city.

The first phase saw the installation of more than 110 signs offering updates on traffic to motorists.

Nearly 120 traffic cameras were installed during the previous part of the project, which brought the total number of surveillance cameras to 235.

There were 115 transit time and speed computing devices installed along with 17 Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS).

Work also included the construction of a 660km long fibre-optic network for communication between on-site devices and central systems, which increased the total length of the optical fibre network to 820km.