What’s On has details of plans for ten new pedestrian walkways spanning some of Dubai’s most hazardous stretches of road

More…
– RTA taxi app
– Dubai Canal roadworks

Crossing the road in Dubai is about to get a little less hairy – 10 new pedestrian bridges are being built in accident black-spots.

Construction on the footbridges – located in areas with heavy traffic and high rates of accidents involving pedestrians – will take place over the next two years at a cost of around Dhs40million, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has said.

“The new bridges will be constructed in a number of vital locations that have been identified in traffic studies focused on the intensity of people’s movement between the two sides of the road, areas with abundant shops and establishments, and locations recording high run-over accidents,” said Mattar Al Tayar, executive director and chairman of the board of the RTA.

Bridges will be built at Bani Yas Street – one near the Department of Land and another near Dubai Municipality – Khalid bin Al Waleed Street, Al Nahda Street, Al Ittihad Street, Al Maraabi Street, Al Mankhool Street, Latifa bint Hamdan street, Al Ribat street, and the Dubai-Al Ain Road near the Skycourts buildings, according to a report in The National.

The project will see the number of pedestrian footbridges in Dubai boosted to 120 by 2016.

“Constructing the footbridges stems from the commitment of the RTA to provide safe means for pedestrians to cross roads,” Mr Al Tayar said.

Dubai residents can also expect to see more signal-controlled pedestrian crossings and speed humps as part of efforts to increase road safety, the RTA.

According to the agency fatalities among pedestrians has dropped from 9.5 per 100,000 people in 2007, to 1.2 per 100,000 in 2013.