20 September 2026
Dubai has completed the Oud Metha Road and Al Asayel Street Development Project. The Roads and Transport Authority announced on 20 September 2026 that all works are finished: 14 kilometres of roads, four bridges and two tunnels with a combined length of 4.3 kilometres, and four rebuilt junctions. Capacity on Oud Metha Road rises from 10,400 to 15,600 vehicles per hour in both directions, an increase of 50 percent, while the average journey through the corridor falls from 20 minutes to 5 minutes, an improvement of 75 percent. The project serves Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha and Umm Hurair, districts whose combined population is expected to pass 420,000 by 2030.
What the RTA actually delivered
The project is part of the Sheikh Rashid Corridor Development Project, the programme that rebuilds the road spine running through the older commercial core of Dubai. Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, described the completion as an important addition to the road network of Dubai given the location of the corridor.
The headline figures are worth reading carefully, because two different numbers describe two different things. The 50 percent figure is throughput: how many cars the road can absorb in an hour before it saturates. The 75 percent figure is journey time: how long a single car actually spends crossing the corridor. Both moved because the junctions were rebuilt as grade separated interchanges, so turning traffic no longer stops through traffic at signals.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Roads built | 14 kilometres |
| Bridges and tunnels | four bridges, two tunnels, 4.3 kilometres combined |
| Junctions rebuilt | four |
| Capacity before | 10,400 vehicles per hour, both directions |
| Capacity after | 15,600 vehicles per hour, both directions |
| Capacity gain | 50 percent |
| Journey time before | 20 minutes |
| Journey time after | 5 minutes |
| Population served by 2030 | more than 420,000 |
The four junctions, one by one
The official breakdown published by the Dubai Media Office in January 2026, when the project stood at 60 percent completion, shows where the extra capacity comes from. It is not one large structure but a chain of four rebuilt nodes, each with its own throughput figure.
- Oud Metha Road and Sheikh Rashid Road. A left turn slip ramp rated at 1,800 vehicles per hour, and right turn lanes increased from two to three, rated at 4,000 vehicles per hour.
- Oud Metha Road with Al Asayel Street and Al Wasl Club Street. Three bridges: Al Asayel to Al Wasl Club, two lanes, 2,400 vehicles per hour; Al Khail Road to Al Asayel, three lanes, 3,600 vehicles per hour; and a left turn bridge from Al Asayel to Oud Metha, two lanes, 2,400 vehicles per hour.
- Al Wasl Club Street and Al Khail Road. A two lane bridge carrying traffic from Al Asayel to Al Khail Road towards Business Bay, rated at 3,000 vehicles per hour.
- Zabeel Palace Street with Al Khail Road and Oud Metha Road. A single lane tunnel from Dubai Al Ain Road to Al Wasl Club Street at 1,200 vehicles per hour, a left turn slip lane doubled from 900 to 1,800 vehicles per hour, and bridge lanes increased from two to three at 3,300 vehicles per hour.
The sequencing also tells you something about how the RTA runs these programmes. In January 2026 the bridges carrying Al Asayel traffic to Al Khail Road were 70 percent complete and scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2026, while the tunnel from Dubai Al Ain Road to Al Wasl Club Street was 60 percent complete and scheduled for the third quarter. Both opened inside their announced windows, and the full project closed in September 2026.
Why this particular corridor matters
Oud Metha is not a peripheral location. The corridor links Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha and Umm Hurair, and it feeds Al Khail Road towards Business Bay on one side and Dubai Al Ain Road on the other. Latifa Hospital and Al Wasl Club sit inside the catchment. This is the older commercial heart of the city, where a large share of mainland trade licences, clinics, schools, logistics yards and small industrial units are registered, and where new residential density is being added rather than built from scratch on empty land.
That matters for anyone choosing an address. A company whose staff commute into Bur Dubai, Oud Metha or Al Jaddaf has just had 15 minutes a day per person returned to it in each direction. For a courier fleet, a clinic with appointment slots or a service business with technicians on the road, the arithmetic compounds quickly across a month.
What changes for companies on the ground
Road capacity is infrastructure, not regulation, so nothing in this announcement changes a licence condition, a fee or a filing deadline. What it changes is the operating cost of a location, and that is a real input when a business picks where to register and where to lease.
Three practical consequences are worth noting. First, the older mainland districts along the corridor become more competitive against the newer free zone clusters on the Al Khail and Sheikh Zayed axis, purely on travel time. Second, delivery and field service businesses working the Bur Dubai to Business Bay route can plan tighter slots. Third, landlords in Zabeel, Al Jaddaf and Umm Hurair now have a concrete argument for rents, so tenants negotiating renewals in these districts should expect it to appear on the table.
If you are still deciding between a mainland licence and a free zone structure, location economics is one of several inputs and rarely the decisive one. Our guide on mainland versus free zone companies in the UAE sets out the parts that usually do decide it: ownership, permitted activities, visa quotas and the right to trade directly with the local market.
This project also sits inside a much larger programme. In September 2026 the RTA set out the fourth Dubai corridor towards Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, an 80 kilometre, 12 lane motorway with a first phase costed at AED 3.5 billion, 72 bridges, 17 tunnels and a design capacity of 24,000 vehicles per hour in both directions. Oud Metha fixes the inner core; the fourth corridor addresses the intercity flows.
How Atlant Capital can help
We work with founders who are choosing where in the UAE to put a company and what that choice costs in practice. On this corridor the questions we are usually asked are about address, staff and banking, in that order.
- Choosing the jurisdiction and the licence: company setup in the UAE, including mainland activity selection and free zone comparison for the same activity list.
- Staffing the entity: work visas and residency, including establishment cards, quotas and dependant visas.
- Opening the account once the licence exists: corporate bank account opening with a realistic view of which banks accept which activity profiles.
Conclusion
The Oud Metha Road and Al Asayel Street project is finished, and the numbers behind it are specific: 14 kilometres of road, four bridges, two tunnels over 4.3 kilometres, four rebuilt junctions, capacity up 50 percent to 15,600 vehicles per hour and journey time down from 20 minutes to 5. It does not change any rule that applies to a UAE company. It does change what an address in Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha or Umm Hurair is worth in daily operating terms, and that is worth knowing before signing a lease or a licence in those districts.
Source: The National.
FAQ
What exactly did Dubai complete on Oud Metha Road?
The RTA completed the Oud Metha Road and Al Asayel Street Development Project on 20 September 2026. It comprises 14 kilometres of roads, four bridges and two tunnels totalling 4.3 kilometres, and four rebuilt junctions. The project forms part of the wider Sheikh Rashid Corridor Development Project.
How much faster is the journey through Oud Metha now?
The average journey through the corridor falls from 20 minutes to 5 minutes, an improvement of 75 percent. Separately, hourly capacity on Oud Metha Road rises from 10,400 to 15,600 vehicles in both directions, a gain of 50 percent.
Which areas of Dubai does the project serve?
It serves Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha and Umm Hurair, along with Latifa Hospital and Al Wasl Club. The combined population of these districts is expected to exceed 420,000 residents by 2030. The corridor connects to Al Khail Road towards Business Bay and to Dubai Al Ain Road.
Does this change anything for a company registered in Dubai?
No licence condition, fee or filing requirement changes because of a road project. The practical effect is on operating cost and staff commute time in the districts along the corridor, which is a factor when choosing an office address or negotiating a lease renewal in Zabeel, Al Jaddaf, Oud Metha or Umm Hurair.
