Dubai Municipality opened a new 1.65-kilometre tunnel on Al Khaleej Street on Sunday, connecting the Infinity Bridge ramp in Deira directly to the intersection of Al Khaleej Street and Al Wuheida Street. With three lanes in each direction, the tunnel can handle up to 12,000 vehicles an hour and removes the need for a traffic signal along this stretch.

The new link benefits residents and commuters travelling to and from Abu Hail, Al Wuheida, Al Mamzar, Dubai Islands, the Waterfront Market and Al Hamriya Port. A separate ramp now connects Dubai Islands directly to the tunnel toward Al Mamzar, while two roundabouts on Cairo Street and Al Wuheida Street have been replaced with signal-controlled junctions to further smooth traffic flow.

The tunnel forms part of the wider 13-kilometre Al Shindagha Corridor Improvement Project, which authorities say will cut journey times along the corridor from one hour and 44 minutes down to just 16 minutes by 2030.

Construction involved around 2,200 engineers, technicians and workers logging nearly 11 million working hours. Almost 77 per cent of the 522,000 cubic metres of excavated material was reused elsewhere in the project. A striking addition inside the tunnel is a 36-million-piece mosaic mural created by Emirati artist Maryam Al Hathboor.

The opening is the latest step in Dubai's long-running push to ease congestion in its eastern and central districts, and officials expect it to make daily journeys noticeably smoother for residents of Deira, Dubai Islands and the Al Hamriya Port area.