New Dubai road toll gate to hit traffic from Abu Dhabi

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is set to open a new road toll (salik) gate in the coming weeks near the Energy metro station on Sheikh Zayed Road.

The gate will come online after construction work on bridges and flyovers at the seventh interchange of Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Yalayes Street Road leading to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road are completed.

The RTA said last month that the works were 85 per cent complete and were expected to be finished on September 15.

Read: Dubai project to ease Sheikh Zayed Road traffic from September

It later confirmed in a statement that the gate itself is due to become operational on October 24.

“By installing Salik Toll Gate in Jebel Ali, RTA aims to redistribute the traffic movement and divert part of the traffic movement from Jebel Ali in the direction of Sharjah and other Emirates,” RTA director general and chairman Mattar Al Tayer said.

“Motorists will be able to use alternative roads such as the Emirates Road, Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed Road, Shaikh Zayed Bin Hamdan Road, and Al Khail Road.”

The gate will be the seventh erected in Dubai and is expected to encourage traffic too and from Abu Dhabi, Jebeli Ali and Dubai Investment Park to divert to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and the 62km Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Road.

Al Tayer said traffic flow is expected to be cut by 25 per cent on Sheikh Zayed road after the gate opens as commuter switch to means of public transport like the metro and bus routes.

Khaleej Times reports that gate is expected to generate more than Dhs300m ($81.9m) in annual revenues for the RTA.

The RTA is estimated to generate Dhs2bn ($544.4m) a year in revenue from its current toll gates in Dubai and has recently paid off a $800m loan using the proceeds, according to the publication.

Abu Dhabi is also planning to introduce its own road toll system and is currently using inactive gates to fine drivers of unregistered vehicles.

Read: Abu Dhabi cracks down on unregistered cars via toll gates