Design and Supervision of R902 Improvements of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road, Stage 2

CDM Smith was com­mis­sioned by Dubai’s Roads and Trans­port Au­thor­ity to design and su­per­vise the major widening of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road (formerly Emirates Road), Stage 2, which is located in the eastern part of Dubai met­ro­pol­i­tan area and running in the north-south di­rec­tion. The project, which was split into several phases, started at the Arabian Ranches In­ter­change to the north up to the be­gin­ning of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Road at the Dubai / Abu Dhabi border to the south. The align­ment runs parallel to Sheikh Zayed Road (E11) in the west and Emirates Road (formerly Dubai Outer Bypass Road) in the east. 

The im­prove­ments involved the widening of the existing highway along an ap­prox­i­mate length of 33 km. The widening took place on the median side and com­prised the con­struc­tion of three ad­di­tional lanes in each di­rec­tion to even­tu­ally form a 12-lane divided highway with inner and outer shoul­ders, sep­a­rated by a double-faced concrete barrier. The project scope also included the de­vel­op­ment of the ex­ten­sion of the Academic City Road that runs parallel to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road for an ap­prox­i­mate length of 24 km. The total project length was divided into dif­fer­ent con­tracts.

Phase 1 involved the widening of the existing road with an approximate length of 7 km, con­struc­tion of a grade-sep­a­rated in­ter­change at the in­ter­sec­tion of Hessa Street, and upgrading of Al Houd Round­about, which involved the con­struc­tion of the three-lane di­rec­tional link serving the traffic from Jabal Ali port along Al Yalayis Street towards Dubai and the Northern Emirates. This phase was com­pleted in 2012.

Phase 2 involved the widening of the existing road with an approximate length of 13 km. The widening commenced at the end of the previous phase up to the existing Al Maktoum Airport Street Roundabout inter­sec­tion. This phase also involved the second stage of the upgrade of the Al Houd Roundabout to a full cloverleaf interchange. This phase was completed in 2016.

Phase 3 will involve the upgrading of the re­main­ing part of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road with an ap­prox­i­mate length of 10 km, along with the de­vel­op­ment of several grade-sep­a­rated in­ter­changes to replace the existing round­abouts. This stage is expected to be im­ple­mented in the near future.

Phase 4 involved the ex­ten­sion of the Academic City Road project located in the eastern part of Dubai urban area. The road corridor is bonded between Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road to the west and Emirates Road to the east running north-south di­rec­tion with an ap­prox­i­mate length of 23 km bounded by Dubai-Al Ain Road (Academic City In­ter­change) and Al Yalayis Street and is running parallel to Dubai-Sharjah gas pipeline corridor. The scope of work involved the con­struc­tion of a dual car­riage­way of four lanes per di­rec­tion with a total length of 23 km along with the upgrade of the existing road from dual two lanes per di­rec­tion to dual four lanes per di­rec­tion with a total length of 10 km. This phase was de­vel­oped under several sub-phases. The phases that were com­pleted or are cur­rently being im­ple­mented are shown below.

Phase 4A. This phase was divided into two sections: Section 1 involved the con­struc­tion of Hessa Street, a dual car­riage­way road con­nect­ing the existing road segment of Remram’s access on Emirates road to the existing Dubai Motor/Sports City round­about junction (con­structed under R902/1) while con­vert­ing it into a traffic signal. The project made pro­vi­sion to the con­struc­tion of the in­ter­sec­tion with Academic City Road and future upgrades without any in­ter­rup­tion to traffic flow. Section 2 involved the con­struc­tion of a dual carriageway road con­nect­ing the “Villa Project” to Emirates road while pro­vid­ing a future ex­ten­sion to the proposed Academic road ex­ten­sion.

Phase 4B. This phase will involve the construction of the interim design of the extension of Academic City Road from Al Yalayis Street up to Dubai-Al Ain Road for a length of 23 km. In this phase, a dual carriageway road shall be developed, which will consist of four lanes per direction, along with the construction of a crossing bridge crossing over Latifa Bint Hamdan Street. It will also involve the development of a temporary roundabout at the intersection of Al Qudra Street and the stage construction of a signalized junction at the intersection of Hessa Street. The last two junctions will be upgraded in the upcoming stage of Phase 4C.

The works also included the provision of street lighting services to the proposed roadway facilities, crossing ducts for different utilities, and the relocation and/or protection of existing services affected by the proposed highway scheme based on coordination and approval of the respective utility authorities. CDM Smith's services included preliminary study, preliminary and final design, and construction supervision.