Official Opening of Dubai's Al Maktoum Bridge 1963

Who paid for Al Maktoum Bridge?

Sheikh Rashid financed Al Maktoum Bridge by charging a Toll for vehicles to cross the bridge. That charge only applied when crossing from Deira to Dubai. Travelling the other way was free.

Toll Tickets were sold in shops. There was a small wooden Toll Booth located at the start of the bridge on Deira side. The Toll Collector usually stood outside the Toll Booth. As Drivers approached the Booth they held a ticket out of the Driver's window. They didn't slow down! They judged the best place to let go of their Toll Ticket so the wind took it somewhere near the Collector. The Toll Collector rarely bothered to collect the ticket. Just letting the ticket fly into the wind from the car or truck was enough to let the Collector know you had bought a ticket. The area around the Toll Booth was always littered with Toll Tickets. Drivers knew when they were approaching the bridge. The landscape and road turned blue with the littered bridge toll tickets! If anyone looked closely at these tickets, they may have seen some "tickets" were just pieces of paper! Nevertheless by around 1973 Al Maktoum Bridge was paid for and traffic no longer had to pay a toll.

Who built Al Maktoum Bridge?

Overseas AST built Al Maktoum Bridge with Sir William Halcrow as the Consultant Engineer. Overseas AST was an Austrian Engineering Company that established in Dubai in 1958 and Dubai's first major construction company. Overseas AST still operates today as a Dubai owned Company.