A five-kilometre-long stretch of Al Asayel road will open for traffic on Wednesday, offering motorists another option to access the Downtown Dubai area, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced.
The new road, that will include two tunnels and two bridges, will link Oud Metha street with The Dubai Mall, bypassing 2nd Zabeel Road and Financial Centre street.
The Dh300 million project is one of the key phases of the Parallel Roads network, which extends from Shaikh Rashid Road in the north up to the outskirts of Abu Dhabi emirate to the south, passing through the Business Bay area.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, hailed the progress made on the massive project before opening the road that offers an alternative and seamless corridor for motorists between Oud Metha, Zabeel, Jumeirah and the Business Bay districts.
The project comprises two tunnels; each comprising three lanes in each direction. The first tunnel branches from the 2nd Zabeel Road and extends 850 metres, and the second tunnel branches from the Trade Centre Road and stretches for 600 metres.
Also part of the project are two bridges of two lanes in each direction at Business Bay, extending 700 metres.
The project offers free access to The Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa through Emaar Boulevard.
"The Parallel Roads Project is one of the biggest projects currently undertaken by the RTA and is capable of easing the traffic flow along the area to the east of Shaikh Zayed Road. It also serves traffic inbound from Shaikh Zayed Road and outbound to Business Bay besides linking Al Khail Road with the internal roads of Business Bay,” stated Al Tayer.
He added that Al Asayel Road is a key corridor of the Eastern Parallel Roads Project and is linked with the Godolphin Project the RTA intends to undertake in the next stage.
"The Godolphin project involves the construction of roads, bridges and tunnels linking to the parallel roads, having a positive impact on easing the pressure on the roads surrounding Zabeel besides providing entry and exit points to and from Shaikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road,” he said.
As part of the future plan, the RTA will link Al Asayel Road with Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Crossing through a bridge across Oud Metha to link Bur Dubai with the Lagoons, Al Warqa'a, and International City.
Recently, RTA opened several important parts of the parallel roads network, including seven bridges at the Jumeirah Lakes Towers that helped ease congestion in the area.
The project also included the construction of a tunnel to link Shaikh Zayed Road with Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road.
In the second phase, several roads were built around Jebel Ali Racecourse, Emirates Hills, Springs, Meadows, Jumeirah Islands and Jumeirah Park. The project, which extends about 20km, constitutes 14 per cent of the total Parallel Roads Project, and comprises three to four lanes in each direction as well as six bridges and three underpasses crossing the eastern and western roads.
In phase One, the RTA built roads at Al Barsha, and Al Quoz Industrial and Residential areas extending from Hessa Road to the south up to Meydan Road to the north in a sector extending 15km on the Eastern Parallel Road and 18km on the Western Parallel Road, comprising three lanes in each direction.

Source: Gulf News