New Salik gate to come up on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai

The toll gate is expected to help ease traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road and in Downtown Dubai.

A new Salik gate has been set up on Sheikh Zayed Road after Ibn Battuta Mall heading towards Abu Dhabi.

According to sources, the toll gate will be operational in the "next few weeks" - when the construction works on a bridge along Al Yalayis Street leading to Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road are complete.

The toll gate is expected to help ease traffic on Sheikh Zayed Road and in Downtown Dubai. It is the seventh toll gate to be erected in Dubai since 2007, and aims to direct traffic coming from Abu Dhabi on the Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Road heading towards the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road.

The toll will encourage motorists to use the 62km Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Road that opened to traffic in 2016. The Dh2.1 billion highway runs between Seih Shuaib on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai border all the way to the Sweihan Road interchange. It consists of four lanes in each direction and has a capacity of 8,000 vehicles per hour.

At the new toll gate site, Khaleej Times found that the gate was erected only in the direction towards Abu Dhabi. Work is under way on the 7th Interchange on the Sheikh Zayed Road, which is expected to open on September 15.

According to sources, the new toll gate is estimated to generate more than Dh300 million in annual revenues. This will be added to the estimated Dh2 billion in annual revenues generated by the Salik gates in Dubai.

The sources added that the RTA had paid off an $800-million financing deal through revenues generated through Salik.

Investments in transport infrastructure

The Dubai government is continuing to invest in traffic infrastructure to accommodate new projects. A $2.88 billion agreement to expand the Dubai Metro for the Expo 2020 is currently underway. The deal includes constructing an additional 15km line and the purchase of 50 Metro trains, 15 of which will be pushed into service on the new line.

The RTA will be also be reselling the naming rights of Dubai Metro stations in September 2019. This follows the expiry of the 10-year naming rights contract Dubai had signed. The naming rights and Metro advertisement rights together had raised Dh4.8 billion in 10 years.

malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com