Dubai's secret tunnel

As the article tells us, even the RTA is unaware of the tunnel and doesn't know when it was opened, well I can tell them.  The tunnel isn't a secret to people who work in the area.  On the day it opened, at least 3 months ago, the roads in the area were changed without any warning, there was no announcement that there could be something as unexpected as a tunnel and as a result, along with many others, I ended up driving through it wondering (a) where the tunnel had come from (it wasn't there yesterday) and (b) where the *&^ it was going to take me.  Was I going to come round a corner and find a 40 foot trench and then have to back up the way I'd come (this is quite a reasonable concern, its Dubai after all)?  The other drivers must have had the feeling as a group of cars drove carefully through the tunnel on full alert expecting to find a guy in the middle of the road painting the road markings by hand or some other hazard.  On emerging into daylight I found myself well past the Marooj heading away from where I worked.  %&$^#!!  I joined the Queue of the Confused, made an illegal u-turn and headed back through the tunnel for a second attempt. 
Source & graphic: Gulf News Express
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You can't help feeling a bit like Batman while driving into an apparently secret, subterranean car tunnel coursing under the Downtown Burj Khalifa area.
There are no street signs or nameplates, just four empty lanes of asphalt divided by a concrete divider and two long ceiling slots to allow in air and sunlight.
Several visits by XPRESS to the completely unknown 1.1-kilometre bypass tunnel revealed an empty thoroughfare save for a couple of straggler cars clipping through the concrete passageway.
A Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) official said they weren't aware of the tunnel which links Downtown Burj Khalifa to Al Mafraq Road and bypasses heavy Dubai Mall traffic congestion on Financial Centre Road (formerly Doha Road).
"We may have announced this already, but I'm not aware of it," said the official. "It sounds like it will save drivers a lot of time."
The official couldn't say when the tunnel had actually opened.
A Dubai Taxi driver said he was overjoyed when he stumbled upon the find by accident.
Using the underground tunnel instead of braving the construction work at Defence Roundabout and Financial Centre Road southerly towards Dubai Mall has saved him many times in recent weeks, he said.
"On busy traffic days, it can take a lot of time to go from Shaikh Zayed Road past Dubai Mall and down the road behind (Al Mafraq Road) to get to Dubai Exhibition Centre," he said. "There is so much traffic at the [Dubai] Mall. This tunnel has made life much easier."
To access the tunnel from a westerly direction on Shaikh Zayed Road, drivers can turn in to the Downtown Burj Khalifa exit before the Defence Roundabout exit. Once inside Downtown Burj Khalifa, motorists proceed to the second small roundabout and then turn left towards Emaar Square. The road directly enters the tunnel at the foot of Emaar Square office towers.
It takes about a minute to pass through the tunnel and exit directly onto Al Mafraq Road with the Al Murooj Rotana hotel on the driver's side.

New tunnel opens in Dubai

Picture: A worker attempting to reach Emaar Square this morning 
(BrandXPictures)

The new tunnel under Emaar Square is open and this morning I went through it twice, neither time intentionally.  The direction sign at the roundabout that leads to Sheikh Zayed Rd has an arrow and the words "Emaar Square" on it but the sign tells lies. Instead of taking the unsuspecting driver to Emaar Square, the road veers away, dips underground through the new tunnel, emerging on the road to DIFC, well past the Marooj Rotana. As a result, I joined The Queue of The Confused to do a u-turn by DIFC, went back through the tunnel again this time appreciating the nice road surface, smooth walls, pristine beige paintwork and reasonable acoustics for the Audi. Once I was above ground again, I took a chance on an unmarked exit that looked like it led to the road that winds past the Tabreed substation. Thank goodness it was the right road. Other co-workers were also surprised to find themselves going through the tunnel. Unfortunately for one, on her return trip after doing a u-turn at DIFC, she took the wrong exit and ended up in the Dubai Mall carpark in her words "trapped like a mouse in a maze". When she finally found her way out of the carpark 20 minutes later, she somehow ended up on the overpass heading towards Al Khail and having to start the whole thing again.
No doubt everything will be completely different again tomorrow.