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Abu Dhabi road names

• 13 Nov 2013 - some roads have been renamed as part of the Abu Dhabi Onwani addressing system. See information below table. Table not updated.
• Mar 2014 - Onwani is Arabic for "My Address" not "Get Lost!" despite what some people might think after the Abu Dhabi Street Sign Replacement Department put new signs up without the road numbers that many residents used for reference, and making most maps of Abu Dhabi obsolete overnight. We don't know if it was some sort of negligence, or a deliberate omission to try and force people to use the new road names, but either way it is rather out of character for an emirate trying to make itself more user-friendly and develop its tourism potential. One rumoured explanation is that someone in the department had an axe to grind (against what isn't clear) but had an opportunity to mess things up for residents and visitors trying to find their way around Abu Dhabi, and no one picked up on it until it was too late.

Note that North-South and East-West on this page, and with reference to Abu Dhabi roads, is inaccurate. Roads close to Abu Dhabi city center (the Corniche area) are mostly either NW-SE direction (what we're referring to as North-South), or NE-SW direction (what we're referring to as East-West). Moving away from the center and into the desert, the road alignment changes such that what we're calling North-South actually goes from NW-SE to East-West, and what we're calling East-West becomes more like North-South. Confused? Welcome to the UAE.

That probably doesn't help much. Try thinking of it this way: North-South roads run along the length of Abu Dhabi island, and East-West roads run across the width of the island.

 

North South Abu Dhabi roads
Common name	New Name1	Number	Map name	Area	Comments
Airport Road		2nd St	Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum St
Old Airport Rd		2nd St	Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoom St
Lulu Rd	Sultan bin Zayed the First	4th St	Lulu Rd	Al Markaziyah
Al Sharqi St	Sultan bin Zayed the First	4th St	Al Sharqi St	Madinat Zayed
New Airport Rd	Sultan bin Zayed the First	4th St	East Rd, Muroor Rd, New Airport Rd		South
East Road	Sultan bin Zayed the First	4th St	East Rd, Muroor Rd, New Airport Rd		Eastern Rd, South
Muroor Road	Sultan bin Zayed the First	4th St	East Rd, Muroor Rd, New Airport Rd	Madinat Zayed
Al Dhafra Rd					Al Dafra St
6th St	Fatima bint Mubarak St	6th St	Umm Al Nar St
6th St	Fatima bint Mubarak St	6th St	Bani Yas Road, Baniyas Rd
Najda Rd (St)	Fatima bint Mubarak St	6th St	Baniyas Rd	Madinat Zayed	Al Baladiya area?
Al Najdah Rd	Fatima bint Mubarak St	6th St	Baniyas Rd		... and Al Dhafra?
East Coast Rd	Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan St	8th St	Al Salam St
Eastern Ring Rd	Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan St	8th St	Al Salam St
New Corniche Rd	Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan St	8th St	Al Salam St	Madinat Zayed
	Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan St	8th St	Corniche Al Qurm St	Muroor?	Old name (ADM97)?
10th St		10th St	Liwa St
		22nd St	Khalid Bin Al Waleed St
		24th St	Al Karamah St
	Mubarak bin Mohammed	26th St	King Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Saeed St		North
	Mubarak bin Mohammed	26th St	Al Nahyan, Nahayan St		South
		28th St	Khalifa Bin Shakbut, Shakhbout St
Arabian Gulf Rd		30th St	Al Khaleej Al Arabi St
Mussafah Rd		30th St	Al Khaleej Al Arabi St
Coast Rd		30th St	Al Khaleej Al Arabi St
		32nd St	Khalidiyah St		Or 7th St? North?
	Al Bateen St	32nd St	Sultan Bin Zayed St		South
		34th St	Baynunah St, Baynounah Rd		to Emirates Palace
East West Abu Dhabi roads
Common name	New name1	Number	Map name	Area	Comments
Corniche		1st St
Khalifa St	Khalifa bin Zayed the First	3rd St	Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed St
Khalifa St	Khalifa bin Zayed the First	3rd St	Al Istiqalal St
Hamdan St		5th St	Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed St		East
Hamdan St		5th St	Al Nasr St		West
		5th St	Al Khubairah St	Al Khubeirah
*Electra St (Rd)		7th St			East
Zayed the First St		7th St	Sheikh Zayed the First St		West
Zayed the First St		7th St	Zayed the Second St (ADM97)		East of Airport Rd
Zayed the First St		7th St	Zayed the First St (ADM97)		West of Airport Rd
Khalidiyah St*		7th St	Sheikh Zayed the First St	Khalidiya only?	Or 32nd St?
Old Passport Rd		9th St	Al Falah St		West
Passport Road		9th St	Al Falah St
Jawazat Rd		9th St	Al Falah St		East
*Immigration Rd		9th St	Al Falah St
Defense Rd		11th St	Hazza Bin Zayed St
		11th St	Al Sudan St
Al Bateen St		11th St	Haza Bin Zayed the First St?
Delma St		13th St	Delma St, Dalma St
		15th St	Mohammed Bin Khalifa St
		17th St
	Shakhbout bin Sultan St	19th St	Al Saad St, Al Saada St
	Dihan Street	21st St
	Salama bint Butti St	23rd St
	Al Dhafra St	25th St
	Mawgab St	27th St
	Rabdan St	29th St
	Dhafeer St	31st St

1. New street names from Nov 2013, also Mar 2014.

• Abu Dhabi city is on an island that is much longer than it is wide. Streets running across the width of the island (east-west) have odd numbers, streets running along the length of the island (north-south) have even numbers. Many streets also have other names which might be marked on maps, and common names which are rarely marked on maps but are what everyone uses in everyday conversation, and what taxi drivers will understand.
• The words "Road" and "Street" are often used interchangeably, with no rhyme or reason.
• Abu Dhabi is split down the middle by Airport Road, some street names for roads that cross Airport Rd (odd numbers) change from one side of Airport Rd to the other - sometimes common names, sometimes map names, sometimes both, just to make sure you never make it home in time for supper.
• The Emirates Palace side of the island is west, the Tourist Club Area is east, with the Airport Rd as the divider. Some road names will have East or West added on, usually related to what side of the Airport Rd they're on.
• Streets named after a male member of a royal family will normally start with "Sheikh" but it's a bit random whether maps show this or not.
• Within each grid sector between the main roads, the minor roads are also numbered, so there are many different minor "1st Streets" for example - one in every sector. Main roads are signposted in blue, minor roads are signposted in green.
• If you're new to Abu Dhabi, go out early for a drive on a Friday morning (there's much less traffic) to familiarise yourself with the pattern and some landmarks.

New addressing system and street names in Abu Dhabi - Onwani Unified Addressing and Wayfinding System

13 Nov 2013 (WAM) - The Onwani Unified Addressing and Wayfinding System is an Abu Dhabi project by the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) to rename streets to reduce confusion with multiple names for the same streets, and introduce a simplified address system.

• Onwani project officially launched on Tue 12 Nov 2013. Onwani is Arabic for "My address".
• The system will be implemented by the Abu Dhabi Municipality, Al Ain Municipality and Western Region Municipality under the direction of the DMA.
• All streets in the emirate of Abu Dhabi expected to have unique names by the end of 2015. Abu Dhabi city by the end of 2014, Al Ain and the Western Region (Al Gharbiya) by the end of 2015.
• New road signs already in place (or being placed) in the following areas or districts: Al Bahia, Al Falah, Mariah Island, old Al Nahyan Camp area.
• The Onwani project will introduce 12,000 new street names across the emirate, and 20,000 new road and district signs are expected to be set up. New street names will reflect Emirati culture, UAE and regional history. Examples:
  • Muroor Road (also called Fourth Street, East Road) expected to be renamed as Sultan Bin Zayed the First Street.
  • Najda Street (also called Bani Yas Street or Baniyas St) expected to be renamed as Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Street.
• As part of the Onwani project, each home, office, or other location will have a unique address with the building number, street name, city name, and emirate name. A total of 200,000 locations will be given a new address.

Streets in Abu Dhabi renamed

• Mar 2014 - two streets renamed in memory of:
  • Saif Ghubash St (Saif Ghobash) - a former UAE Foreign Affairs minister who was killed in October 1977 at Abu Dhabi International Airport, during an attempt to assassinate the Syrian foreign minister.
  • Khalifa Al Mubarak - a former ambassador to France who was killed (assassinated?) in Paris in February 1984.
• 23 Feb 2014 (WAM) - Khalifa Al Mubarak is a new name for a road in Abu Dhabi city, but report didn't say which road. Or it hasn't been renamed yet. The new road name is to honour the late Khalifa Al Mubarak who was UAE ambassador to several countries.
• 23 Nov 2013 (WAM) - 14 major Abu Dhabi roads were renamed as part of the Abu Dhabi City Onwani project, honouring Emirati persons of note or having geographical significance:
  1. *Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Street?
  2. 4th St (Muroor Road, Fourth Street, East Road) - renamed as Sultan bin Zayed the First Street (?), after the father of Sheikh Zayed ("Father of the UAE") and son of Sheikh Zayed the First. Ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1922-1926.
  3. 6th Street (Al Najda Street) - renamed as Fatima bint Mubarak Street, road runs from Corniche Road to Hazza bin Zayed Street. New name honours the "Mother of the UAE" for her contributions to UAE society, especially in the area of women's empowerment.
  4. 8th Street (Al Salam Street) - renamed as Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street, after the first UAE President, also Ruler of Abu Dhabi 1966-2004. Connects with Sheikh Zayed Bridge.
  5. 26th Street - renamed as Mubarak bin Mohammed Street (Mohamed, Mohammad).
  6. 32nd Street - renamed as Al Bateen Street.

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  7. 3rd Street (Khalifa St) - renamed as Khalifa bin Zayed the First Street, after the oldest son of Zayed the First.
  8. 19th Street (Al Saada St) - renamed as Shakhbout bin Sultan Street, Ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1928-1966.
  9. 21st Street - renamed as Dihan Street.
  10. 23rd Street - renamed as Salama bint Butti Street.
  11. 25th Street - renamed as Al Dhafra Street.
  12. 27th Street - renamed as Mawgab Street.
  13. 29th Street - renamed as Rabdan Street.
  14. 31st Street - renamed as Dhafeer Street.

Last update Sunday 01-Feb-2015

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www.dubaifaqs.com/street-names-abu-dhabi.php (PDF and print version).

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