Dubai’s RTA has completed maintenance and rehabilitation works on about 17km of asphalt roads this year.
Dubai: About 95 per cent of Dubai’s road network assets are rated “excellent”, according to Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) data, as the emirate expands preventive maintenance and increasingly uses smart systems to identify areas requiring repairs.
Much of the work is carried out overnight to minimise disruption to motorists, with crews maintaining and repairing asphalt roads, pavements, bridges, tunnels and stormwater drainage systems before reopening them ahead of the morning rush.
Night-time maintenance also includes street lighting, traffic signals, directional signs and metal barriers, along with infrastructure cleaning, surface repairs and minor traffic improvements.
Under its preventive road maintenance programme, the authority had completed maintenance and rehabilitation works on around 17 kilometres of asphalt roads by early June 2026, covering nine streets across six areas in Dubai.
The work included highways, arterial and local roads in industrial, commercial and residential districts, as well as a cycling track.
The RTA is also carrying out pavement maintenance and rehabilitation covering around 90,000 square metres under its 2026 programme, slightly above the approximately 88,000 square metres completed in 2025.
Behind the programme is an increasingly data-driven approach to determining where maintenance crews should be deployed.
The authority analyses asset-management systems, field inspection findings, customer reports, traffic data and scheduled maintenance plans, prioritising interventions based on the severity of damage, safety risks, traffic volumes and the importance of each road or asset.
Smart technologies enable the RTA to monitor infrastructure conditions and make operational decisions more quickly, while digital asset-management systems are used to track work orders and repairs.
Modern surveying and inspection equipment is also being used to improve maintenance quality, reduce completion times and accelerate responses to defects requiring urgent attention.
Before overnight works begin, the authority prepares traffic-management plans covering road closures and diversions and puts the necessary safety measures in place. Crews work to tightly controlled schedules, with final inspections conducted before roads are reopened ahead of the morning peak.
