Dubai’s Underground Artery: Al Khaleej Street Tunnel Transforms Movement Through Deira

A 1,650-metre passage beneath the historic quarter signals a new era of seamless connectivity, adorned with a striking mosaic artwork that captures the city's skyline in 35 million pieces.

The opening of Al Khaleej Street Tunnel represents far more than an engineering achievement. It is a considered intervention into the texture of Deira’s urban life, a subterranean channel that permits the continuous flow of movement while preserving the character of the quarter above. The tunnel, stretching 1,650 metres from the Infinity Bridge ramp to the intersection of Al Khaleej Street and Al Wuheida Street, carries three lanes in each direction, accommodating 12,000 vehicles per hour with a graceful efficiency that dissolves congestion into free passage.

Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority, observed that this addition to Deira’s road network strengthens the vital connections between residential neighbourhoods, commercial centres and the cultural attractions that draw visitors to this storied part of Dubai. The tunnel forms an essential component of the Al Shindagha Corridor Development Project, a 13-kilometre initiative that serves approximately one million people and connects major developments including Dubai Islands, Dubai Maritime City and Port Rashid. By 2030, the completed corridor will compress a journey that currently takes one hour and 44 minutes into just 16 minutes.

What distinguishes this infrastructure is not merely its technical specification, but its integration of artistry. Under the Dubai Tunnels initiative, Emirati artist Maryam Al Hathboor has transformed the tunnel walls into a luminous mural depicting Dubai’s skyline rendered in the style of banknote illustration. The work comprises 35 million mosaic pieces, each contributing to a vision that celebrates the city’s architectural character and creative ambition.

The project itself reflects an ethos of material stewardship. Over nearly 11 million work hours, 2,200 engineers, technicians and workers, supported by 350 pieces of equipment, contributed to its completion without incident. Remarkably, 77 percent of the excavated material, approximately 522,000 cubic metres, has been reused in other projects rather than discarded, a testament to environmental consciousness embedded within the development process.

Signal-controlled intersections on Cairo Street and Al Wuheida Street have also been refined as part of this work. Concurrently, the authority continues construction on a 1,425-metre bridge connecting Dubai Islands with Bur Dubai, which will accommodate 16,000 vehicles per hour, permit vessel passage through Dubai Creek and feature dedicated pedestrian and cycling tracks. These interconnected projects, as we reported in coverage of Sharjah’s opening of major road infrastructure linking to Dubai, reflect the wider emirate commitment to seamless regional mobility.

What it means for Abu Dhabi

Dubai’s transportation infrastructure investments carry significance for the broader United Arab Emirates. Enhanced connectivity between Dubai’s districts and increased capacity on major corridors contribute to the efficient movement of traffic throughout the region, benefiting residents and businesses across emirate boundaries who regularly traverse between emirates for commerce, leisure and employment.

The architectural integration of public art into infrastructure, exemplified by Maryam Al Hathboor’s mosaic work, reflects a regional commitment to elevating utilitarian spaces into expressions of cultural identity. This approach reinforces the UAE’s broader ethos of blending functional excellence with creative ambition, a principle evident in Abu Dhabi’s own development philosophy.

Source: WAM