Dubai to get two new toll gates in bid to ease traffic woes

• 2 new toll gates will be added in Dubai.
• The goal is to reduce traffic woes.
• The gates will be opened in November 2024.

The only toll gate operator in Dubai, Salik Company PJSC (Salik), announced on Friday that two new toll gates would be introduced.

The two new gates will be situated between Al Meydan Street and Umm Al Sheif Street on Sheikh Zayed Road in Al Safa South and at Business Bay Crossing on Al Khail Road.

According to Salik, the company has been officially appointed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to “install two new toll gates to optimise traffic flow and reduce congestion on key routes within Dubai.”

The RTA conducted in-depth studies on traffic circulation before choosing the two locations. By rerouting some traffic to alternate roads with more capacity, they hope to optimize traffic distribution and alleviate congestion, making travel easier and more effective for all drivers in Dubai.

Start of operations

When the two additional toll gates open in November of this year, Salik will have ten toll gates in Dubai instead of just eight. Al Barsha, Al Garhoud Bridge, Al Maktoum Bridge, Al Mamzar South, Al Mamzar North, Al Safa, Airport Tunnel, and Jebel Ali are the locations of the toll gates that are now in place.

The Salik sticker tag is scanned by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology every time a car goes through a Salik toll gate. The driver’s prepaid toll account is automatically credited with a Dh4 toll cost.

Salik said, “Similar to Al Mamzar North and South, the upcoming Al Safa South will be linked with the existing Al Safa gate (Al Safa North), and motorists will be charged only once if they pass through the two gates within one hour in the same direction.”

Easing traffic congestion

The RTA anticipates that the Business Bay Crossing gate will help alleviate 12 to 15% of the traffic congestion on Al Khail Road, reduce traffic on Al Rabat Street by 10–16%, and redirect traffic to the Al Maktoum and Al Garhoud bridges as well as Ras Al Khor Street.

In a similar vein, Al Safa South is anticipated to optimize traffic flow on Financial Center, First Al Khail, and Al Asayel streets and decrease right-turn traffic volume from Sheikh Zayed Road to Meydan Street by 15%.

Growth plan

Salik CEO Ibrahim Sultan Al Haddad noted: “The addition of new toll gates in two increasingly busy locations marks the latest milestone in the growth plan that we set out at the time of Salik’s initial public offering.”

In June 2022, Salik was founded as a publicly traded joint stock company. Situated at key intersections, particularly on Sheikh Zayed Road, the city’s primary thoroughfare, Salik boasts eight toll gates that were utilized for around 539 million trips in 2022.

Al Haddad said: “Our partnership with RTA in launching these new gates is another important step in our journey to enhancing Dubai’s transport infrastructure with smart and sustainable mobility solutions.”

“In line with Dubai’s Urban Plan 2040, which focuses on sustainable and efficient urban growth, we are directly supporting RTA’s objective to optimise travel time and alleviate traffic congestion, and these two new gates aim to improve overall mobility throughout the city, facilitating smoother and more efficient travel for road users.”

With the launch of the new gates, Salik expects to see an increase in annual revenue-generating trips.

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