Expo 2020: Dubai’s RTA completes 15 infrastructure and road projects valued at Dhs15bn

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has carried out 15 projects to support Expo 2020, costing more than Dhs15bn, it announced on Saturday.

Currently, all the roads and transport infrastructure is in place to enable visitors to travel to and from the Expo 2020 site, a statement said.

The portfolio of projects completed includes: Route 2020 of Dubai Metro spanning 15km and connecting seven stations for which the RTA procured 50 trains; the construction of roads spanning 138 lane-kilometres with nine flyovers; the deployment of 200 public buses; designating 18 stations/stops for buses at hotspots in Dubai and other key cities of the UAE; deploying 15,000 taxis, limousines; managing 30,000 parking slots at Expo site; and using smart technologies, apps, and artificial intelligence to ease the movement of Expo visitors.

The RTA also constructed the Enterprise Command and Control Centre – which controls and integrates various RTA’s mass transit systems (metro, tram, buses, taxis and water transport), and connects several traffic control centres as well as the Intelligent Traffic Centre that uses smart technologies to manage traffic movement.

Public transport service hours during Expo 2020

Dubai Metro Expo 2020 station will operate from October 1, synchronised with the official opening of Expo 2020. The red and green lines will offer passenger services from Saturday to Wednesday from 5am to 1.15am (of the following day). On Thursday, the service will run from 5am to 2.15 am (of the following day), and on Friday from 8am to 1.15am (of the following day). The service frequency will be 2.38 minutes during peak times.

Route 2020 has a capacity of 46,000 users per hour in both directions. The Expo station is expected to receive 35,000 daily visitors during weekdays, and the number is set to increase to 47,000 daily visitors during weekends. This number accounts for 29 per cent of the total expected number of daily visitors to Expo, the statement said.

Dubai Tram will provide services from Saturday to Thursday from 6am to 1am (of the following day), and on Friday from 8am to 1am (of the following day).

Expo buses will operate from 6.30am and continue the service for 90 minutes after the closure of Expo gates. Shuttles from the Expo parking area to the three gates will start at 9am and continue for 90 minutes after the closure of Expo gates. Bus services between the Expo gates (Expo People Mover) will begin operations at 6.30am and continue for 90 minutes after the closure of Expo gates.

The RTA has allocated 203 buses to serve visitors to Expo 2020 from 18 stations – including nine in Dubai and nine in other emirates. The Expo bus service will be free of charge in Dubai from the nine stations in addition to two routes to transport visitors from hotels directly to the site of Expo.

Taxi and e-hail services will be be operational around the clock.

The RTA is deploying 15,000 taxis and limousines to serve the emirate and visitors to Expo 2020. It has also added 10 vehicles to serve people of determination at the Expo 2020 site.

#RTA’s integrated public transport services ensure a seamless journey to #Expo2020 – no matter what mode of transport you choose.@expo2020dubai pic.twitter.com/dsxw50CTld

— RTA (@rta_dubai) September 25, 2021

Roads and parking

The surrounding roads network in the Expo area has been enhanced to include the construction of six flyovers to ensure free traffic movement in all directions. The RTA has also constructed 64 bridges stretching 13km, five box tunnels extending 450 metres, and roads extending 138 lane-kilometres in addition to 25 entry lanes and 21 exit lanes for vehicles at the Expo site.

The RTA will manage about 30,000 parking slots at the site of Expo distributed at several zones (Opportunity, Mobility, Sustainability, World, and Nissan parking areas). Intelligent traffic signs will be used to manage the parking by a smart system connected to the traffic monitoring centre to identify vacant slots.

The RTA has also developed alternative plans to cope with the events in case the parking lots are full by using intelligent traffic signs on external and internal roads to direct motorists to alternative parking.

Crowd management

The RTA has charted out technical event management plans and developed a structure for the mobility of Expo visitors using various transit means from the metro and bus stations inside and outside the emirate in addition to taxis deployed at the site.

It has also charted out a plan for managing the traffic movement on the surrounding roads and junctions during weekends as well as days witnessing mega events throughout the period of Expo. It has mapped out alternative plans for coping with all possible scenarios that might cause traffic snarls.

Expo 2020, which begins on October 1, 2021, runs for six months until March 31, 2022 and is anticipated to attract 25 million visits.

Read: All you need to know about Expo 2020 Dubai