Dubai: Two new Salik toll gates in Dubai are set to go live on Sunday, November 24, as previously revealed. The activation date was confirmed through a notice from Salik’s CEO, Ibrahim Al Haddad, to Hamed Ali, CEO of the Dubai Financial Market.
These gates have been installed at the Business Bay Crossing on Al Khail Road and in Al Safa South on Sheikh Zayed Road, located between Al Meydan Street and Umm Al Sheif Street.
Plans for these additional toll points, which increase Dubai’s Salik gates to a total of 10, were initially revealed in January.
Authorities have noted that the locations were selected based on extensive traffic studies aimed at alleviating congestion, with the Salik Company establishing the gates under the direction of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority.
إنجازاتنا ليست مجرد أرقام، بل خطوات نحو بناء مستقبل أكثر إشراقًا.
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Cutting traffic
The authority expects the new Business Bay gate to help reduce traffic congestion by between 12 per cent to 15 per cent, while the gate in Al Safa South is set to cut congestion by 15 per cent.
Mr Al Haddad said that, “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.”
After the January announcement, Mattar Al Tayer, director general of the RTA, said Dubai’s road toll strategy was key to its efforts to reduce traffic.
Al Tayer said that, “The existing toll gates contributed to reducing the total travel time in Dubai by six million hours annually, decreasing traffic volumes on Al Maktoum and Al Garhoud bridges by 26 per cent, reducing travel times on Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Ittihad Street by 24 per cent, and increasing the number of mass transit users by nine million riders per annum.”
Why were tolls introduced?
The Salik system was introduced in 2007 to ease congestion on Sheikh Zayed Road and raise state revenue. Tags fixed to windscreens can be purchased online or at service stations. They can be topped up online or through recharge cards.
Motorists are charged Dh4 ($1.09) to pass through each gate, with the amount deducted automatically. The eight other toll gates are located at:
Al Barsha, Al Garhoud, Al Maktoum, Al Mamzar South, Al Mamzar North, Al Safa, Airport Tunnel, Jebel Ali
When the most recent toll gate was introduced in Jebel Ali in 2018, transport officials said it could reduce traffic by about 25 per cent. The RTA aims to reduce traffic levels through a comprehensive road-building strategy and is also working to bolster public transport options to take more cars off the roads.