Middle East Construction
Dubai opens a 102 metre bridge to take cyclists off a live traffic route
By Staff Writer | 24 August 2026
The new crossing at Mushrif National Park joins two previously separated sections of trail and removes a road crossing that riders had to make on foot.
Dubai Municipality opened a 102 metre bridge at Mushrif National Park on 23 August. The structure links two sections of the park's mountain biking trail that were previously separated by a road carrying vehicles, so that the route now runs as one continuous line.
The deck carries two segregated lanes, one for cyclists and one for walkers, which keeps the two user groups apart along the crossing and across the wider trail network. The end to end journey over the bridge is 182 metres, longer than the structure itself because of the approaches at either end.
The new bridge represents a significant addition to Mushrif National Park and transforms the mountain biking experience by creating a continuous connection between two sections of the trail. Mountain bikers can now continue their journey without having to stop and cross a road used by vehicles, providing a safer, smoother and more enjoyable experience through one of Dubai's most distinctive natural environments.
Bader Anwahi, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality
A grade separation problem, on a small scale
Stripped of the recreational framing, this is an ordinary piece of highway engineering: an at grade conflict between a vehicle route and a non motorised route, resolved by taking the non motorised route over the top. The design answer, two lanes segregated by user type rather than one shared surface, is the same answer taken on shared use paths across the world once the mix of speeds becomes uncomfortable.
The reason it is worth recording is that the conflict was already there and the park was already open. Retrofitting a crossing into a live, occupied public space is a different job from building one into a new masterplan, and it is the job most authorities in the region will now face as trail networks laid out a decade ago start to carry serious traffic.
Segregating cyclists from walkers on the deck is a decision about capacity and about liability. It costs width, and it removes the argument that the two groups were expected to negotiate the same surface.
What the authority has published, and what it has not
The municipality has given the span, the lane arrangement and the length of the crossing journey, and has said the bridge was developed in a way intended to sit within the park's existing landscape. It has not published a construction cost, a contractor, a designer, a structural form, a deck material, a programme or a start date.
Nor has it given the width of either lane, the design loading, or the height above the road it crosses. Anyone benchmarking a comparable retrofit therefore has a headline length and nothing beneath it.
The crossing forms part of a longer programme at the park, which the municipality describes as a continuing development of the site for outdoor recreation. Riders and walkers now start from Mushrif Hub, and the trail beyond it runs unbroken. Whether the rest of that programme is published in the same detail is the next thing to watch.