New names, no numbers

The Municipality is giving new names to streets throughout the capital, following on from the renaming of broader districts. Major streets are being given the names of prominent individuals of the past and present, while minor streets are being given the names of little-known places throughout the Emirate.

I must confess that it’s all rather confusing, particularly where major roads and long-established districts are concerned. The process is, moreover, made more complicated by the fact that some of the capital’s major roads have nicknames that have never been official but which are, by far, the most commonly used.

A decade or so ago, a street numbering system was introduced. It had a clear logic behind it – with Abu Dhabi’s roads being built on a grid system. It was actually quite easy to follow, going from 4th to 6th to 8th, or from 9th to 11th to 13th. It helped, too, that the road signs showed both the name and the number, so you could find your way around using both systems.

Now, though, the street signs show the new names, but not the old street numbers, and certainly not the old names, so there’s nothing to guide you. The similarity of names of leading personalities can be a little confusing too, as this sign shows. These two used to be known as 4th and Al Salam Street.

In time, of course, people will get used to the changes, though I suspect that the old favourites of “Muroor”, “Khalidiya”, “Jawazat” and “Electra” and so on will continue to be used as well, at least by everyone but new arrivals, who will be greeted with blank looks of incomprehension when they ask for directions using the new names.

The new system, though, has none of the logic of the now-redundant system that used street numbers. Was it really necessary to cancel the numbering of the roads? I hate to think of the number of working hours that will be wasted as people try to find their way around, let alone the frayed tempers and raised blood pressure levels that will ­result.