Motorists lost 35 hrs in Dubai traffic snarls in 2024: Study

Dubai motorists lost an average of around 35 hours in traffic jams in 2024 two hours more than the previous year - as the city's population and vehicle numbers grew.

- Waheed Abbas

The number of hours lost in traffic is much higher than in 2022, recording an increase of 45 per cent, according to Inrix 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard.

The emirate's population has increased by over 134,000 since the beginning of last year, reaching 3.8 million. Since January 2021, the city's population has increased by over 378,000, due mainly to the influx of foreign professionals, workers, and investors as the economy grew at an exponential pace in the post-pandemic period.

Dubai's toll gate operator Salik's data showed that registered vehicles increased 8.7 per cent year on year to 4.3 million due to the city's macroeconomic growth.

The number of vehicles in Dubai during daytime hours has reached 3.5 million, according to official statistics revealed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in November last year. The emirate has recorded a 10 per cent increase in registered vehicles over the past two years, compared to a global average of 2-4 per cent.

However, the Dubai government is incessantly working on infrastructure development to smooth traffic flow across the city, pumping billions of dirhams into the system to meet the growing demand for housing and road networks.