Nightmare on Hessa Street is the traffic-themed horror movie every Dubai resident has encountered at least once in their life. Soon, hours-long delays of chock-a-block traffic may change thanks to a new expansion project that the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced for Hessa Street.
Officially called ‘The Hessa Street Improvement Project’, this major infrastructure plan will see the upgrade of four main intersections that connect arterial roads to Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Khail Road, First Al Khail Street and Al Asayel Street. Additionally, Hessa Street will also be widened doubling it from two to four lanes in each direction, over a 4.5km stretch.
Over 8,000 vehicles will be accommodated
I’m no fortune teller but I’ll be bold enough to predict we can now add years to our life not having to spend it in bottlenecks that move at snail-pace.
The massive AED689 million revamp will boost Hessa Street’s capacity by 100% allowing it to accommodate 8,000 vehicles per hour. While this will debilitate our ability to make memes about Hessa Street’s epic congestions it’s an L (loss) we’ll gladly take.
State-of-the-art cycling and walking tracks
Besides road expansion, this new upgrade also includes the construction of a 13.5-kilometre cycling track. A 2.5-metre stretch of that track will cater to bicycles and e-scooters and the remaining 2 metres will be exclusively for pedestrians.
This track will link Al Sufouh to Dubai Hills and connect bikers easily to the Dubai Internet City Metro Station. What makes this particular cycling track unique is that it’ll also cover two bridges that cross Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road
When will the Hessa Street expansion be completed?
An exact date hasn’t been confirmed yet by the RTA, dear reader. However, in his official statement, His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA mentions that “the population of areas served by the project is expected to reach more than 640,000 individuals by 2030.”
This Hessa Street Improvement project is one amongst a recent spate of road developments in response to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai’s directive to upgrade Dubai’s infrastructure to meet the city’s meteoric growth.