RTA awards contract for constructing 13 pedestrian overpasses, costing AED45 m

RTA awards contract for constructing 13 pedestrian overpasses, costing AED45 m

Al Tayer: The number of footbridges will inch up from 74 to 87

The Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji:

In a meeting held under the chairmanship of H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA), the RTA Board of Directors has recently awarded a contract for designing & constructing 13 footbridges at various locations in Dubai at a total cost of 45 million dirham to be completed within 8 months. The step will raise the number of pedestrian overpasses from the 74 to 87 footbridges, including the 34 footbridges of the metro stations comprising 23 footbridges on the Red Line and 11 footbridges on the Green Line.

"The construction of footbridges marks RTA's efforts to provide safe transit means for pedestrians crossing streets, and the new footbridges will be constructed at a number of locations in the light of traffic studies focusing on several parameters including the intensity of people movement between the two sides of roads, availability of markets & establishments, and spots witnessing high proportions of run-over accidents (black points)," explained Al Tayer.

"These pedestrian overpasses include constructing a 100 meter-long bridge across the Emirates Road (near Fruits & Vegetables Market), and a 86 meter-long bridge near workers accommodation at Al Qusais, as well as several bridges stretching 40 to 75 meters across Al Mina Street (near Dubai Ports & Customs), Sheikh Rashid Street (near Deira City Center), Umm Suqeim Street (near Mall of the Emirates), Al Wuhaida Street, Amman Street (near Lulu Village), Latifa bint Hamdan Street (near Gulf Center), Al Mankhool Street (between Sheikh Rashid Street and Kuwait Street), Al Rasheed Street (near Jesco Supermarket), Abu Baker Al Siddique Street (near Al Qabael Center), Al Khaleej Street (near Deira Palm Metro Station), and Jebel Ali Industrial Area Street (near workers accommodation).

"The RTA attaches paramount importance to roads traffic safety. Besides constructing safe pedestrian crossings, the RTA has rolled out a host of initiatives to improve the traffic safety including running awareness-raising campaigns, setting up fences to fend off pedestrian crossing at dangerous spots of roads network, providing more than 100 pedestrian crossings, installing traffic calming means, and setting up cautionary signs in the vicinity of 300 schools, mosques and hospitals.

It also attended to the provision of all the requisite services at the Metro stations such as pick-up & drop off points of passengers of taxis, private vehicles and public buses. Efforts made by the RTA, in collaboration with the General Headquarter of Dubai Police, have contributed to boosting the traffic safety on roads as illustrated in traffic fatalities slipping from 145 cases in 2007 to 78 cases in 2009 and the downward trend continued to hit 43 cases in 2010 and the same number was recorded last year," elaborated Al Tayer.

Concluding his statement, Al Tayer called upon pedestrians to use their dedicated bridges, and exhorted motorists to comply with the speed limits in place, and slow down at pedestrian crossings for their own safety and the safety of road users as well. Captions:  Footbridges contributing to minimizing run-over fatalities  13 new pedestrian overpasses