Hessa Street Phase 2 is 10% built and will open to traffic in stages

The second phase of the Hessa Street upgrade was 10.33 per cent complete at the end of October, Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) told Gulf News, and the work is on schedule. The RTA said finished sections will open to traffic as they are completed, before the whole corridor is done, though it has not said when the first section will open or when the project will be finished.

Hessa Street runs between Al Khail Road and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, past Al Barsha South and Jumeirah Village Circle, and is one of the main ways in and out of those neighbourhoods. The RTA says the upgrade will serve more than ten residential and commercial communities and improve access to the schools, clinics and shops along it.

The numbers are large. The street is being widened to four lanes in each direction, five major junctions are being rebuilt, and the plan adds 8,835 metres of bridges, a 408-metre underpass and a 9.1-kilometre cycling track. Capacity is set to double, from 4,000 to 8,000 vehicles an hour, and the RTA expects the peak-hour drive along the corridor to fall from about 24 minutes to five.

Phase 2 started on 1 December 2025, and Phase 1 was finished in April 2026. Crews are now moving and diverting utility lines, building the road and putting up the bridges. Next come the main structures, the junction upgrades, the widening itself, the underpass and the cycle track.

For drivers, the coming months mean more of the same: lane shifts and diversions around the work sites on Hessa Street, especially near the Al Khail Road end. Allow extra time at rush hour, follow the temporary signs, and check the RTA's website or app for diversions before you set out. Residents of JVC and Al Barsha South should see the first relief when the first finished section opens, and the RTA is expected to announce each opening as it comes. Cyclists will get a dedicated track the length of the corridor once it is complete.