Driving over the Creek in Dubai will be a painless experience when a bridge from Deira to Bur Dubai is completed in the first quarter of 2007.

Construction of the bridge starts at the end of the year 2005. This will be the third bridge connecting the areas on either side of the creek after the Al Maktoum and Al Garhoud bridges. A fourth link is the Al Shindagha Tunnel.

The municipality has finalized the plan for what is called the Ras Al Khor Project. It will not be just another bridge crossing the creek, but a road corridor stretching almost 15km from the Airport Tunnel under construction to the first Interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road.

After breaking the story last September, Gulf News yesterday obtained the detailed plan of the project, which will be the biggest road construction in Dubai in terms of its impact on traffic in the emirate.

"The project involves a 12-lane bridge on the Creek and a total of five major interchanges," said Badr Y. Al Gergawi, head of the municipality's roads planning section.

Al Gergawi said the project will help ease traffic on Dubai roads in addition to providing easy access to newly developed areas.

The bridge will be located 1.5km east of the Al Garhoud Bridge near the Dubai Festival City and will have six lanes on each side.

With a height of 19 meters, it will have a higher clearance than the Al Maktoum Bridge and Al Garhoud Bridge, and will not be an open-span bridge. The new corridor will serve the projected increase in traffic volumes until 2020.

There will be interchanges at either end of the bridge on both sides of the creek allowing motorists to exit or join the expressway on the bridge.

Starting from the first interchange at Shaikh Zayed Road right up to the Airport tunnel, there are a number of junctions, but all allow free flow without any traffic lights and this will ensure smooth traffic flow.

Starting at the First Interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road, a part of the new road project connects with Al Khalil Road, while the other continues onwards interconnecting with Oud Metha Road and the Zabeel (2) Road through an interchange.

From the interchange at Zabeel (2) Road, an arm of the road network will connect to the existing interchange at Al Qatayat Road, while the main road will connect to Al Jaddaf before crossing over the creek towards Al Rabat Road and then join with the Airport Tunnel via the Nadd Al Hamar Road.

A major interchange will also be built on Shaikh Rashid Road before the Al Garhoud Bridge on the Bur Dubai side.

Named Al Jaddaf Interchange, it will allow motorists to drive towards the new bridge on the creek.

Another big interchange will be built on the crossroads of Nadd Al Hamar and Al Rabbat Roads to provide motorists free travel up to the Airport Tunnel