DUBAI // A new road network and flyovers near Jumeirah Village are set to ease fears of traffic congestion in a rapidly developing part of the city where up to half a million people will be living within five years. The roundabout at the junction of Emirates Road and Al Khail Road, clogged by heavy traffic accessing nearby construction sites, will be redesigned as part of a scheme to replace busy intersections on Al Khail Road with clover-like interchanges.
Construction will run in conjunction with work to improve access via flyovers to each side of Jumeirah Village, the Dh5 billion (US$1.36bn) multi-use project being developed by Nakheel. Access between the two parts of the development, which is divided by Al Khail Road, is possible only via the roundabout. The new Dh575 million interchange, which will replace the roundabout, will feature six lanes in each direction for motorists on Al Khail Road crossing over Emirates Road. In addition, two lanes will be built for traffic coming from Emirates Road and merging onto Al Khail Road and two more for vehicles travelling in the opposite direction.
Jumeirah Village will have a working and residential population of about 300,000, while nearby Dubai Sports City will be home to 70,000 people. A further 18,000 residents will live in Jumeirah Park, about 12,000 in Motor City and many more in the International Media Production Zone. Malcolm Thorpe, the marketing director of sport business at Dubai Sports City, said the work was essential to improve traffic flow in an area that would become increasingly popular as sporting and leisure attractions within the sprawling Dubailand master development were completed.
"The planned interchanges will drastically increase the connectivity and provide faster, more convenient access for surrounding communities that will be looking at Emirates Road as Dubai's centre for entertainment," he said. With many people expected to work on the mainly commercial side of Jumeirah Village and live in the residential district located on the other side of Al Khail Road, buyers fear they will be forced to use the congested roundabout at the junction of Al Khail and Emirates Road.
Marwan al Naqi, the general manager of Jumeirah Village, who has to endure the heavy traffic when making site inspections, sought to ease their fears. "There will be a huge interchange that should allow everything to run smoothly," he said, adding that it would connect the two sides of the development. "We are making sure that we work closely with the RTA to avoid any delays to this project." The interchange will consist of two bridges with three lanes in each direction and will have the capacity for 10,000 vehicles per hour in both directions.
The construction contract had been awarded and work had started on the site, said Maitha bin Adai, the chief executive of the Traffic and Roads Agency. It would take 18 months to complete. Jayne Tomkinson, 33, a personal assistant who bought a two-bedroom apartment in Jumeirah Village, said it cannot come soon enough. "At the moment, lorries make getting access very difficult," she said. "The two sides of the development must be connected or everyone living and working there is going to have a huge problem."
Access to Jumeirah Village will improve further if the project is connected to the purple line of the Dubai Metro. Mr Naqi said Nakheel had begun talks with the Public Transport Agency at the Road and Transport Authority over the construction of a station at Jumeirah Village. The RTA's existing plans see the line running from Dubai International Airport on a route alongside Al Khail Road towards Jebel Ali. However, the exact location of the stations has not been confirmed.
"It would be a fantastic boost for the project, but nothing has been decided yet," said Mr Naqi. He added that construction traffic should diminish on the roads around the project as Jumeirah Village's construction deadlines were met. The first 200 of the 2,202 villas and townhouses being built by Nakheel are expected to be completed in December and handed over to the company's asset management department for final checks. About 60 per cent of the project's infrastructure has been completed so far.
The two sides of the project are known as The Circle and The Triangle. The Circle, making up more than two-thirds of the total project, will consist of offices, homes and shops, while The Triangle will be consist of villas and townhouses surrounded by residential towers. A shopping mall run by Nakheel Retail will face the new interchange. About 20,000 people are currently working on the site, a figure expected to rise to more than 200,000.
Mr Naqi said the project's two-bedroom villas and one- and two-bedroom townhouses were almost sold out. They are marketed as mid- to high-end properties for executives and small families. The last of the villas are expected to be handed over by October 2009, while total project completion is scheduled for 2013. The project will include seven schools, five mosques, a hospital and a petrol station, in addition to police and civil defence stations.
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