Two more tollgates planned by April

Two more road tollgates will soon be opened in Dubai as the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) seeks to push motorists on to back roads and public transport. Khaleej Times has learnt the RTA will place the first Salik tollgate at Al Ittihad Road near the Dubai Police headquarters, while the other gate will go up near the Dubai Airport tunnel. This will bring the total number of Salik gates to six, once operational. It is understood the RTA wants to tack on the extra Salik tollgates by April to alleviate traffic congestion on Al Ittihad Road and Al Khail Road, which often see traffic snarls, and push motorists onto alternative roads. It is also anticipated the new tollgates will help encourage more people to use public transport, particularly the two Dubai metro stations located on the Emirates motorway which have free car parks. The first is Etisalat Metro station, located at Al Qusais, which can house a total of 2,700 motor vehicles, and the second is Al Rashidiya Metro station which can accommodate some 2,350 cars. Once accessed, passengers can use the Red and Green metro lines to move between the more vital areas in the emirate of Dubai ending at the Jebel Ali area. It is understood the two Salik toll gates will be open by April this year after Ministry of Public Works winds up the expansion and renovation works of intersections on Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, formerly Emirates Road. The four gates which are currently operational are Al Barsha and Al Safa toll gates on Shaikh Zayed Road, Al Garhoud Bridge toll gate and the Al Maktoum Bridge toll gate. On Tuesday, Taxi commuters in Dubai also started paying Salik charges as taxi meters in the emirate have now been upgraded to register Salik charges whenever a taxi passes through a toll gate. The installation of Salik tollgates managed to cut the travel time taken during a drive from the fourth interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road, near the Mall of the Emirates, ahead to Al Nahda intersection from 79 to 27 minutes. The gates have improved the operational ability of roads by 66 per cent. Likewise, the vehicular traffic over Al Garhoud Bridge has decreased by 30 per cent, and Al Maktoum Bridge by 33 per cent. On the contrary, vehicles using the Business Bay Crossing increased by 47 per cent, and seven per cent on Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road. Khaleejtimes