Source: www.rta.ae
The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) sanctioned a strategy to commence the implementation of the Districts Addressing System project covering the naming of nameless streets in the Emirate of Dubai. The plan has set a time limit starting from 2012 and continuing up to 2015.
The initial phase of the plan includes street naming in six areas: Umm Suqeim 1, Umm Suqeim 2, Umm Suqeim 3, Al Sufouh 1, Al Sufouh 2, and Dubai Marina, and is set to be completed before the end of this year. The 2nd phase comprises naming streets in 6 new areas, namely: Al Nahda , Muhaisna, Oud Mateena, Nad Al Sheba, Al Thaniyah, and Dubai Investments Park, and the phase is set to finish by the end of 2013. The 3rd phase of street naming includes Al Warqa, Al Khawaneej, Al Quoz, and Al Barsha and the phase is supposed to complete by the end of 2014. Such expansion in the application of the system would contribute to widening the scope of benefit from this vital project.
Engineer Maitha bin Edai, CEO of Traffic and Roads Agency, said, “The RTA will assign names to streets instead of the previous numbering system, where world studies have shown that the public can recall and retrieve names more smoothly and easily than numbers. Moreover, repetition of the same streets numbers in more than one area would confuse road users.
“The addressing system is one of the Agency’s largest projects as it leads to a large-scale change in the map of Dubai in terms of streets & regions naming, besides the changes in directional signs, as the new naming system will facilitate the mobility as well as the spatial descriptions.
“The great development witnessed by Dubai in urban and real estate sector requires a fast and accurate street naming system in a way that facilitates the mobility and accessibility, as the project will help people in narrating addresses of their homes, offices and shops,” she continued.
Engineer Maitha underlined the close association between the Naming of Internal Districts Project and the General Addressing Project, as the RTA has recently started implementing the new directional signs system which is mainly based on street names and geographic directions. Work is currently underway in all road projects as per the new system, including Al Khail Road, Emirates Road and Rashid Hospital Tunnels.
Engineer Maitha then explained the geographical system in place; where “North” denotes the road leading to Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, “South” refers to the direction of Abu Dhabi Emirate, “West” means the way to the sea, while “East” leads to the direction of the mainland.
Engineer Maitha bin Edai called upon the public to review the maps and define the journey route before driving off as the global studies confirmed that depending on directional signs only without identifying the route to be taken would increase the possibility of traffic accidents, no matter accurate and sophisticated was the signage system in place.
Engineer Maitha advised road users to use the information on the directional signs to map out the journey route such as using the exit number and road number. More info
