Dubai-Sharjah traffic: KT finds the fastest road for commuters amid rush hour

A longer road turned out to be the fastest way from Dubai to Sharjah during the evening rush, as Khaleej Times found a difference of 37 minutes between two major routes.

Four motorists left Al Quoz at around 4pm on Wednesday and headed towards Sharjah using different roads: Emirates Road, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road, Al Ittihad Road and the Infinity Bridge-Al Mamzar route.

Emirates Road was the fastest of the three routes for which complete timings were recorded. The journey to Al Mahatta Museum took about 1 hour and 2 minutes.

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Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road took 1 hour and 40 minutes, while Al Ittihad Road, which is the shortest took 1 hour and 27 minutes.

The fourth journey, through Infinity Bridge and Al Mamzar, took 1 hour 20 minutes.

The test showed one clear thing: during heavy traffic, the shortest road may not always be the fastest.

Emirates Road: Longer, but traffic kept moving

Emirates Road added over 25 kilometres to the journey compared to the shortest route, but traffic kept moving for most of the drive. There were vehicles on the road, but there was no long stretch where traffic came to a complete stop.

That helped the motorist reach Sharjah 25 minutes before the person who took Al Ittihad Road. However, Emirates Road will not work for everyone.

It is more useful for people heading towards areas such as University City, Hoshi, Al Suyouh and other parts of outer Sharjah. For someone living in central Sharjah, the extra distance may not always make sense.

The motorist using Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road faced some slow traffic around Mirdif. At first, vehicles would slow down, move again and then slow down at another stretch.

But after City Centre Mirdif, traffic became much heavier. At some points, vehicles were moving at less than 10kmph.

The journey still took 1 hour and 40 minutes, 13 minutes more than the Al Ittihad Road trip.

E311 can be a useful option for people heading towards Muweilah, the Industrial Areas and some nearby Sharjah neighbourhoods.

Al Ittihad Road: Heavy traffic for most of the way

Al Ittihad Road was the slowest of the three routes. Traffic was heavy from around Garhoud Bridge and remained slow on the way towards Sharjah.

The journey to Al Mahatta Museum took about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

For many residents of Al Nahda, Al Taawun, Al Khan, Al Majaz, Abu Shagara and central Sharjah, Al Ittihad Road remains one of the most direct ways home.

This also means many commuters are using the same road during the evening peak.

Do Infinity Bridge and interior roads help?

Some motorists try to avoid the main highways. Ahmed Suhaim, who regularly travels towards Sharjah, usually takes Infinity Bridge and sometimes Al Shindagha Tunnel.

He said traffic can be very heavy on Infinity Bridge. It usually starts easing near Waterfront Market, but motorists can soon face another buildup near Al Mamzar as traffic joins roads heading towards Sharjah.

Ashfaq Ahmed also tries different routes like the airport Tunnel, Al Qusais interior roads or the route from Sonapur towards E311. But he said these roads are also getting very crowded.

"The commute was slightly easier before the summer holidays. He said traffic has become much more difficult in recent days and believes ongoing road works in Sharjah are also adding to the problem."

For Abbas, the long commute is part of his daily routine. He usually leaves Al Quoz for Sharjah between 5pm and 6pm. "The journey now takes at least around 1 hour and 40 minutes. On some days, it can go beyond two hours," said Abbas.

He said that a major problem is the slow movement of traffic after entering Sharjah. A journey that can take around 25 to 30 minutes when roads are clear can therefore take well over an hour during the peak period.

The traffic problem is reversed in the morning, when large numbers of residents travel from Sharjah to Dubai.

Google Maps screenshots seen by Khaleej Times between around 7.30am and 8.10am on Thursday showed long stretches of heavy traffic on roads towards Dubai.

For a trip from Al Mahatta Museum to Al Quoz, Google Maps showed journey times of around 1 hour and 11 minutes to 1 hour and 27 minutes, depending on the route. The maps also showed several crash or incident alerts during the morning rush.

Heavy traffic was visible around Al Khan, Al Mamzar, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah and parts of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road.

In comparison Emirates Road, showed longer stretches of moving traffic. But because it is a longer route, whether it saves time depends on where the motorist is heading.

Two new lanes were also recently opened on a 5km section of Emirates Road for traffic travelling from Sharjah towards Dubai. The road was widened from six to eight lanes, increasing capacity on that section.

For commuters, there is no single road that will work best every day.

But during the KT evening test, the result was clear: driving farther on Emirates Road meant reaching Sharjah much earlier than taking the more direct Al Ittihad Road.

Sharjah-Dubai travel: Emirates Road to get 2 new lanes; peak-hour trips cut by 25%Dubai-Sharjah traffic: New lane on Al Ittihad Road to cut peak-hour delays by 15%