Road facelift changes traffic scene

KK MOIDU
The closure of Al Wahda Road for two years for the construction of road has virtually changed the scene of the locality. The motorists, residents and shop owners in the area are to face this situation for a specific period of time.
According to reports more than 200,000 vehicles were passing each day on Al Wahda Road and it is one of the busiest road in the United Arab Emirates.
Although authorities have arranged alternate diversions and installed new traffic signals in the area for the convenience of motorists, it is not enough to control the huge traffic. Some drivers' ignorance of the traffic rules may create problems.
The King Abdul Aziz Road was partially closed a couple of months back, and the residents in the surroundings as well as the motorists used the Al Wahda road as an alternative. The situation has changed after the closure of Al Wahda Road. The residents and motorists are unanimously complaining about the traffic congestions.
The closure of Al Wahda Road has increased the traffic rush in other areas like Al Qassimiya Roundabout (Old Spinney's Roundabout aka Mobile Roundabout), Al Khan Bridge and Mothercat Bridge. However the rush in Al Ittihad Road has decreased and the people staying in Al Nahdah and Al Taawun areas is enjoying a traffic free drive.
Sajeevan, a Sharjah resident, said, "Earlier I was taking half-an-hour from Gold Centre signal to Kuwait roundabout (Etisalat Roundabout) and now it took me more than one-and-a-half hour. Because the vehicles coming from industrial areas and alternative diversions of Al Wahda Road increases the traffic in the Al Qassimiya Roundabout. "It is a vacation time, and the traffic situation may not be so easy once the people will return after vacation and the school will re-open within a couple of weeks," says Sajeevan.
Mary Fernandez working in Dubai and living in King Faisal Street Sharjah said, "I reach upto Al Khan bridge in Sharjah without much traffic hurdle but the rush started after the beginning of Al Wahda and long queue of vehicles were in the mother cat bridge to reach King Faisal Road. It took me a long time to reach in my house after the closure of Al Wahda Road."
People leave early from their home and return late in the evening from their workplace. Most of the people living in Sharjah are working in Dubai, because of the high rent in Dubai compared to Sharjah. Although they are forced to spend their valuable time on the road, low and middle income earners are forced to choose Sharjah as their living place.
Sharjah located in the centre of the United Arab Emirates and people from northern Emirates like Ajman, UAQ, RAK, Fujairah are using Emirates road to reach in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for fear of the rush in Al Wahda Road.
However, a resident staying in Al Wahda near Liberty signal said, "She has to walk from the liberty signal to King Faisal Road to take a taxi to go to her office in Al Khan. Since I didn't usually join the morning rush hour and leaves home between 9.30am and 10am everyday, I had not been trapped in a traffic snarl which I noticed was too heavy on Saturday morning, the first working day after the closure of Al Wahda Road. She adds, otherwise it has been smooth-sailing so far up almost zero traffic to her office on Al Khan Road."