ABU DHABI // Construction on one of the city's busiest thoroughfares led to a traffic block that drivers said was several kilometres long last night.
A small section of Al Khaleej al Arabi Street, one of the three largest roads off Abu Dhabi island, was closed for 12 hours yesterday so work could be completed.
Motorists said that just after 6pm there had been queues of several kilometres, reaching well onto Abu Dhabi island on the southbound lanes. Some motorists were stuck in traffic near Al Saada Street for more than 45 minutes, with cars diverted away towards Airport Road, which was also busy.
Col Hussein al Harithi, the head of the Abu Dhabi Police traffic engineering department, said the closure had been unavoidable as a pedestrian bridge was being built near the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
"It was necessary to shut down the Al Khaleej al Arabi motorway in both directions, between Al Saada Street and the Shariah Court Bridge, due to the construction works on going there throughout the night," Col al Harithi said.
He said traffic patrols had been sent there just before 5pm to close the road and divert traffic, and that the motorway was due to be reopened at 5am today.
Despite the increased patrols, motorists met severe delays, some of which were caused by drivers entering intersections before they were clear, blocking oncoming traffic.
Red-light cameras at many intersections were flashing constantly as drivers tried to move clear of the intersection. Many motorists flashed their lights and honked their horns in frustration.
On the radio, announcers from both English and Arabic stations were warning motorists to avoid the area, suggesting they travel up Muroor Road, Airport Road or Al Salam Street.
Police along the motorway struggled at times to keep order as drivers' tempers boiled over. At 19th and 30th, cars were stopped bumper to bumper in the middle of the intersection after the lights had changed from green to red.
But drivers approaching from the opposite direction drove straight into the queue of waiting traffic, and tried to drive through the smallest gaps. At one point, a cement mixer tried to squeeze past a Ferrari 430, although no damage was done.
Adel Anwar, a 23-year-old student who was driving to the airport to pick up his sister said he had been waiting in traffic for 25 minutes.
"All the way from Abu Dhabi, there is nothing, nothing to say there are problems," Mr Anwar said. "I reach here and suddenly there are cars. There is no warning and I am now going to be late. Why can't the police tell us? We just drive straight into traffic here."
The opposite lanes on Al Khaleej al Arabi street were closed for 15 hours last week for the first section of the overpass to be built. More delays are expected on the road over the next two months, with roads closed and diversions in place in the weeks leading up to the International Defence Exhibition on Feb 22, to allow advertising and exhibits to be erected.
Until March 22, traffic heading towards Abu Dhabi will be diverted on to the other side of the road, which will be divided into two lanes.
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A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
NO OTHER LAND
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Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20profile
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Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
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Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
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A foster couple or family must:
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2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
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The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
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At a glance
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The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
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Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
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Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
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