Coming soon to a Dubai venue near you – traffic jams

Dubai traffic. Everyone is talking about it with a feeling of dread for what the coming “high season” will bring.

Just a few weeks into the return from summer, when Dubai roads were an absolute pleasure to negotiate, and the omens are gloomy.

Whether it is the long queues to exit outlying communities to get onto trunk roads, or worsening snarl-ups on those big roads, everyone seems to have a horror story to tell.

The local press has seen a rash of stories from suffering commuters whose two-minute drive to connect to a highway now takes 30 minutes.

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From reports, especially bad areas include Jumeirah Village Circle, Hessa Street (a perennial one this) and the roads heading to Maidan, Nad Al Sheba and environs.

In reality most of the residential developments east of Sheikh Zayed are suffering some kind of traffic-related angst.

I had personal experience of a new trouble spot last week, after an early-morning arrival at Dubai International Airport. The single lane flyover road near Al Garhoud that leads ultimately to Sheikh Zayed Road from Terminal 3 was at a complete standstill because of traffic waiting to join it.

A 15-minute wait on a 300m stretch of road shows that something Is seriously wrong.

These trouble spots and others in the commuter belt are predictably bad during the morning school run, which coincides of course with early morning departures for the workplace.

But it lasts until 10am or later, perhaps ironically because of people taking advantage of flexi-time arrangements to miss the morning rush.

Then it lightens up a little until school pick-up around 2.30pm, which signals the start of the afternoon rush from work, and the “going out” time for evening entertainment and events.

Congestion trouble spots are slightly different in the afternoon and evening. Business Bay, DIFC and World Trade Centre are bad, but the trek into Dubai Marina and JBR is simply dire.

I calculate that works out at roughly eight hours per day of rush-hour conditions on Dubai’s roads.

SZR, of course, is to be avoided at all costs. The problem is that it is unavoidable.

Dubai’s main north-south highway is the emirate’s spinal cord, through which everything has to pass at some time in any significant journey. On a good day, its seven-lane carriageways whisk you to your destination at 100kmph in air-conditioned comfort.

But those good days are increasingly rare, and the hours during which SZR traffic flows freely increasingly few.

The core of the problem is the 25km stretch between roughly Dubai Marina and DIFC. Much as Dubai seeks to expand out of this central corridor, this will always be the congested heart of the city.

Along this route are the two biggest malls in the emirate, the desirable Gulf-side residential areas in Jumeirah and Umm Suqeim, the industrial zones around Al Qoz, financial and commercial hubs, as well as the big new community developments heading out into the desert.

My regular ride from Marina to DIFC can be done in as little as 20 minutes door-to-door. But in the ever-extending rush hours, I leave a minimum of 75 minutes.

I believe there is a chance during the forthcoming high season that stretches of this route will turn into total gridlock for long periods – a 25km-long car park.

Urban traffic congestion is, of course, a global problem, and the authorities are doing as much as anybody – maybe more – to tackle it.

There has been a commendable programme of road and interchange building that will see many millions of dirhams invested in some of the major trouble spots, as well as further significant investment in public transport and “smart” traffic systems.

That’s great, but it will take years before they make any difference.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s population will continue to expand, more driving licenses will be issued, and the emirate’s car and taxi fleets will grow exponentially. Dubai is a car-crazy city, and long may that continue, in my opinion.

Other measures, like expansion of the metro, more buses, and the gradual southward drift of the city towards the new Dubai World Central airport, will also nibble away at the problem. And flying taxis, of course.

In the meantime, I fear we will all have to grin and bear it, and regard the Dubai traffic horror story as the price we pay for living in such an economically vibrant, modern and welcoming urban environment.

Frank Kane is Editor-at-Large of AGBI and an award-winning business journalist. He acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia and is a media adviser to First Abu Dhabi Bank of the UAE