Dubai residents woke up on Friday to the news of two new Salik gates being added to emirate’s roads. While they mostly reacted with shock and concern, others said they will be willing to pay extra passing toll gates as long as they arrive at their destination on time.
Salik Company, Dubai’s exclusive toll gate operator, announced that one gate would be located at Business Bay Crossing on Al Khail Road, and another at Al Safa South on Sheikh Zayed Road between Al Meydan Street and Umm Al Sheif Street.
German expat Maheen Hussainy uses that stretch of Sheikh Zayed Road, where the new Salik gate will be located, every day while returning from school run. “I take this route most of the time, because I can avoid the traffic on Al Wasl road and Jumeirah road without having to pay Salik,” she told the Khaleej Times. “With the introduction of this gate, I expect the traffic on both these roads to increase significantly. So I will have to take the Salik so as not to sit in traffic endlessly.”
She said that she was expecting her monthly expenditure to go up because of this. “Considering how I will have to use this stretch quite often, I am expecting to spend at least Dh300 more on Salik,” she said.
“It is not ideal but it is what is. I might explore options of getting my sons to take public transport or maybe even use a cycle to return from school in the future.”
According to Salik, the two locations have been selected based on extensive traffic movement studies by the RTA. Their objective is to manage traffic distribution and reduce congestion by rerouting some traffic to alternative routes with greater capacity, facilitating smoother and more efficient travel for all motorists in Dubai.
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