Dubai Roads
Contents of this article
The roads in Dubai and UAE are extremely good. An ideal asphalt surface makes you feel relaxed even when you drive 120 kph. Almost all roads have a barrier between the lanes, so the chance to have a fatal frontal collision on the speed of 120 kph is actually zero.
As any other country Dubai roads have their own specifics. You can easily get a fine here if you don’t follow the rules, which you may not be aware of though.
Read more about Dubai driving habits in my previous article.
The fines for road rules violations are extremely strict. Refer to the Dubai Police website for violations & fines.
The trickiest roads in the world
The roads are somewhat very tricky. They should have been included in Guinness record book for that.
There are two sayings I’ve heard about the roads in Dubai: if you see the destination but cannot get there, you are in Dubai, and If you’ve got a map of Dubai, check the date, if it is yesterday’s map it is already outdated.
The roads design is very unusual. Unlike many other countries, there was plenty of space in the desert. So, instead of a U-turn there is a fly-over. Instead of an intersection there may be 3 flyovers. You may like how the interchanges look in Google Earth. But when you drive there, you may get really mad because sometimes you cannot just understand why you find yourself on the road you didn’t mean to go.
Interchange on Sheikh Zayed Road from the space
Roads change quite often. You may drive your usual way to work in the morning, but you can find a detour when you are returning back home. It can be closed for a few months for a reconstruction. When they return the road to the way it used to be, you may not be informed of that change either, miss the exit and spend another half an hour trying to get out of there.
GPS is useless here. I’ve heard of some providers keeping the maps up-to-date. You may check them on google. The map that I used (2007) was absolutely useless. The very first day I got a license here I went to a car market in Al Aweer. It said me to take left and I did that. There were 3 roads and I took the most-left. In GPS there were only 2 roads and the left one in GPS was the middle one in reality. A had gotten lost another couple of times before I finally understood that the roads change too often to use GPS.
Signboards help a lot. But they do not necessarily mean what they say. And they do not necessarily say what the reality is. And they are not necessarily at the place they should be.
May sound frightening but you will get used to it. As far as the fuel is cheap, you will have fun time to explore the city. Sometimes, I have to drive two or three times the same road to understand how it is designed.
There is no advice here, just drive. Have fun!
Speed limits in Dubai
Every big road is controlled by radars which are set to the speed limit + 20 kph on big roads like Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Road and Al Khail Road. Not quite sure about smaller roads. There was a communication that this will change to +10 kph on all roads except for Jumeirah Road where there will be no tolerance to speeding. I don’t know whether this is true but nobody drives faster than the speed limit on Jumeirah Road.
Speed limits in Dubai:
- 120 kph on highways. Emirates Road, Dubai by-pass road, the road to Abu Dhabi.
- 100 kph on big roads. Sheikh Zayed Road, Sheikh Rachid Road, Al Khail Road
- 70-80 kph on medium-size roads. Umm Suqeim Road, Jumeirah Road
- 40 kph in residential areas
- Watch out the signs as this may differ
Normally, I drive 130 on highways, 110 on big roads, 90 on ’80kph’ roads and 70 on Jumeirah road.
Driving here is very relaxing, so it is better to use cruise-control not to get ‘flashed’.
If you violate the speed limit you will see a flash right in your face or in your back. Be ready to pay up to 900 AED (144 EUR, 218 USD). I’ve heard people had been driving like crazy and killing each other here until the government introduced the cameras. Well, considering the quality of the roads, sounds true.
Intersections and traffic lights
There are almost no intersections where you would have to give way to someone else. If there is no fly-over, there is a traffic light. Normally, a junction in Dubai is an intersection of 4 roads. You can always turn right without waiting for the green light.
A typical Dubai traffic light
One road can move at a time at a traffic light. If you see a green light, you can drive straight, left or make a U-turn (unless there is a sign prohibiting that). Then other roads can do that in either clock-wise or counter clock-wise order. The way traffic lights change can be annoying sometimes as you have to wait for a long time. On the other hand, it is very safe and predictable.
Jumping a red light will cost you 800 AED (145 EUR, 217 USD). Many traffic lights are equipped with a camera automatically ‘flashing’ offenders.
Traffic Light Camera in Dubai
Dubai Police can change the way traffic lights work to reduce congestions, and after the change they monitor whether it helps or not! There normally is a police officer with a notepad making notes on timing of the traffic lights and traffic congestions. After 2 or 3 days they do something and the road becomes better.
Famous traffic jams
They do not seem to exist anymore. I was told that a year ago the city was just impossible to drive in. Now it is rather all right. Also, it depends on where you came from. I am used to spend 1 hour covering 10 km from work to home. Now I spend 45 minutes covering 45 km.
Deira is a bit jammed but there is nothing that can be done about it. The inner roads are just too narrow.
As I noticed, much congestion is caused by people who do not drive politely. If everyone drove better, there would be less traffic jams. But this is rather an ideal situation that will never be in such a multicultural city. Read more about Dubai driving habits in my previous article.
Salik – paid roads
Two Salik gates are located on Sheikh Zayed road, another two are located on Al Garhoud and Al Maktoum bridges. Those are gates with radio equipment that scan a special Salik tag affixed on the wind-shield of every car.
Every time you pass under the gate, you are charged 4 AED (0.7 EUR, 1.1 USD). If you don’t have any money on your account, say good bye to 150 AED (27 EUR, 41 USD).
Al Safa Salik gate, Sheikh Zayed Road
You may use other roads to avoid paying the fee but in most cases you will spend more time for that. I will publish some tips on driving around the gates later.
When you buy a car, you have to buy a Salik tag and register it with Salik support on the phone. All instructions are in the pack – so, that’s not going to be difficult. You can buy a Salik recharge card in any petrol station or Carrefour shop. The card can be re-charged at Salik website or on the phone. Every time your account balance goes beyond certain level you will get an SMS.
If you rent a car, the rent-a-car company should take care of everything related to Salik. You will only be asked to pay for your actual spending during the rent period.
Find out more at Salik official website.
Parking in Dubai
All big malls and shops have got their own parking usually big enough to accommodate all visitors (except for Deira City Centre, you will hardly park there on weekends). The emptiest floor is always the roof where there is no shadow under the burning sun.
Parking in malls is usually free. Mall of the Emirates has recently deployed a paid-parking system which created huge jams as it didn’t seem to have been carefully designed. They have introduced free parking on weekends and public holidays and 3 hours of free parking during weekdays.
In the streets the parking is also very easy. If you see an orange signboard ‘paid parking’, you have to pay. If you don’t, the parking is free.
Dubai parking tickets machine
The parking fee is normally 1 AED (0.2 EUR, 0.3 USD) per hour, 2 AED for 2 hours, 4 AED for 3 hours and it goes up with every next hour. It may be more expensive in some areas though (2 AED per hour, 4 AED for 2 hours, 5 AED for 3 hours). 24 hours is normally 10 AED.
Parking is free from 13:00-16:00, 21:00-08:00. It is also free on Fridays.
You always need to have coins with you. Otherwise there will be no way to pay unless you’ve got a parking card. If you have to pay for parking a lot, you may want to buy such card. That will be cheaper than paying coins every time. Read more about cards at the Dubai government website.
Don’t think you can go to a shop for 5 minutes without paying the fee. In most cases you will find a sticker asking you to pay much more than a dirham. Parking fine is 100 AED (18 EUR, 27 USD). You may pay your parking fine online at the Dubai Police website.
December 4th, 2009
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