Register for MEED's guest programme 

Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has awarded an AED689m ($187.5m) contract to Turkish Gunal Construction for the Hessa Street improvement project.

In an official statement, the RTA revealed that the scope of the project includes the expansion of Hessa Street from two to four lanes in each direction and the development of four intersections with Sheikh Zayed Road, First Al-Khail Street, Al-Asayel Street and Al-Khail Road. 

The Sheikh Zayed Road intersection will have a two-lane road heading from Sheikh Zayed Road to Hessa Street eastwards to Emirates Road.

The upgrade of the First Al-Khail intersection includes increasing the number of lanes from three to four in each direction on the existing Hessa Street bridge.

The third improvement covers upgrading the Hessa Street and Al-Asayel Street intersection by increasing the number of lanes from two to four in each direction.

The Hessa Street and Al-Khail Road intersection upgrade includes the construction of a two-lane road to serve traffic travelling northwards to Al-Khail Road in the direction of Sharjah.

The RTA said the project will boost the road’s capacity by 100 per cent to accommodate 16,000 vehicles an hour. The project will also include the construction of a 13.5-kilometre cycling and pedestrian track.

The track will have a width of 4.5 metres – 2.5 metres for bicycles and e-scooters, and 2 metres for pedestrians.

Lebanese Khatib & Alami is the project consultant.

In September, MEED reported that the Roads & Transport Authority had briefed Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and chairman of Dubai Executive Council, on three road projects.

The projects involve upgrading a 4.5km-long stretch of Hessa Street and improving 4.6km of Umm Suqeim Street from Al-Khail Road to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road to increase its capacity to 16,000 vehicles an hour.

The third project involves upgrading a 3km stretch of Al-Khaleej Street from the Infinity Bridge ramp to Cairo Street. These works include the construction of three underpasses with a combined length of 1.65km, with an estimated capacity of about 12,000 vehicles an hour.

The RTA said Dubai’s road network has expanded from 8,715 lane-kilometres in 2006 to 18,768 lane-kilometres in 2022, marking 115 per cent growth.