Beach Road to be dug up again!

I don't believe it!

Well, I do actually, it's standard practice.

Gulf News has this report:


Trams to offer alternative transport

By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter

Dubai: Trams will be run on Jumeirah Road to provide an alternate mode of public transport, said a senior official.

"We are planning to run trams on Jumeirah Road. It will be an extension of the tram system to be constructed on Al Sufouh Road," said Abdul Redha, Director of Planning and Design Department of the Dubai Metro at the Roads and Transport Authority.

Hang on! Hang on!

Al Sufouh Road is brand new, it's only been open for about three months. And Jumeirah Road (universally known as Beach Road) was a nightmare with the seemingly never-ending widening/beautification work. It's only been open a few weeks, the landscaping is just starting to be put in.

Now it's been decided to run trams along both roads. That has to mean in both directions, and trams mean tracks have to be laid.

So that must mean the new 'absolutely essential' third lane is both directions on Beach Road will not be available for traffic, because the trams are going to be there.

That also means more construction - they have to dig the road up to put the tracks down.

Why, why wasn't this decided just a little earlier so that the tram work could have been done as part of the just-finished construction?

The full story is here

Another public transport option is great news, I'm all for it. But trams? Just stop for a second and think about the catastrophe of combining on one road trams with Dubai's drivers...

Added later:
I've found a photo of a tram in Sydney, Australia. Can you imagine these trundling along amongst Dubai's traffic?


(Photo from www.railway-technology.com)