RTA checks areas covered by the new addressing system in Dubai

During the tour RTA officials inspected the work progress, achievements made, requirements of the next phase, and held a meeting of the Follow-up Committee of the Addressing System Project to evaluate the results of the trial implementation.

The Project Follow-up Committee, chaired by Maitha bin Adai, CEO of Traffic & Roads Agency, set off the site tour by visiting areas covered by the Project in Jumeirah 3 and Sheikh Zayed Road to see the work progress, review the experimental implementation of the project phases, evaluate the success of the experiment at site, and explore ways & means of developing the system before being generalized & implemented in full all over Dubai roads.

In a meeting held after the tour, the Committee discussed the experimental version of the Project, and exchanged views & concepts in the light of observations made. A visual presentation about the accompanying promotional campaign of the project was made by Marketing & Corporate Communication Dep't, and another presentation was made by the Consultant of the Project.

The Project Follow-up Committee consists of several members including the Director of Traffic Dep't (Vice Chairman) in addition to other RTA departmental directors, engineers and experts, and representatives of Dubai Municipality, General HQ of Dubai Police, General Directorate of Civil Defence, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Unified Ambulance Center, Emirates Posts Holding Group, Etisalat and Du.

Maitha reported that all indicators monitored in the tour, and during the initial evaluation made earlier, cement the success of the experiment, particularly when taking into consideration the clear response made by road users in areas covered by the trial phase. "The new system is clear, concise, simple and easily memorized as it is based on building numbers, and names of road & sectors displayed on directional boards instead of district names used in the old system; which was based on landmarks of the city and road numbers. The new system is set to assist motorists and road users in reaching their destinations easily & smoothly.

"The project is still new and only a short time has lapsed since inception. We have yet to consider a lot of concepts & feedbacks received from the public, road users, motorists or even experts & consultants since this Project was originally destined to serve the community in general. It follows that any idea to enrich and beef up the Project has to be referred by the RTA to the Consultant Co. for taking it into consideration at the time of generalizing the Project to the remaining areas of the emirate.

"The start of the experimental implementation of the Project was marked by distribution of packages including demonstration text about the system implementation, site map, Dubai map, and directional boards on several areas selected by the RTA including residential area of Jumeirah 3, and surrounding areas between interchange 2 and 4 of Sheikh Zayed Road.

"Launching the trial phase of the project is in line with Dubai Strategic Plan 2015; particularly the provisions of "Infrastructure, Lands & Environment Plan" calling for an integrated roads & transport system capable of ensuring seamless traffic flow and highest levels of safety for all road users. This showcases Dubai as a safe, clean, attractive venue of a sustainable environment and at the same time ensures unparalleled mobility for all users of roads, and land & marine transit systems.

"The Addressing System is both simple and easy to use for all community sectors as it is mainly based on citing street names and dividing the city into sectors; each sector contains several districts. The System allows for the possibility of adding postal codes at a later stage, pending completion of the project. It also includes developing the existing road signage system such that it will save time & effort required for reading the cluster of information contained in the directional signage. Forward directional signboards will be positioned to specify distances to the next exit to enable motorists exit the mainstream road smoothly, in line with the vision of the RTA to provide safe & smooth transport for all.

"Route signage will also be installed in the approaches of all surface intersections & elevated interchanges of numbered routes only (such as Emirates Routes - A, Dubai Routes - D). Information contained in these directional boards will help road users access the required roads or areas easily. Motorists are required to acquaint themselves with several aspects associated with the directional boards, such as the background color, destination of each route, signs displayed and exit numbering system"

added Maitha in a concluding remark.

The Addressing System is accompanied by a comprehensive media & advertising campaign through written, audio & visual media outlets, including newspapers, magazines and mass media, in Arabic, English & Urdu languages to introduce the new system. The campaign, which spans several phases, aims to educate road users on how to benefit from the new system. He also highlighted the importance of developing road maps for the newly-named roads in introducing the new system and explaining its salient features to motorists.

In the same context, the Consultant of the Project made a visual presentation explaining the objective of developing the existing system, changes to be introduced, the reason for changing the existing signs, drawings of renamed road in Jumeirah 3 and Sheikh Zayed Road, and a graphic presentation showing the new road-name signs. During the presentation, the Consultant also displayed images of some of the new directional boards installed in areas covered by the experimental phase of the Project.