Dubai's Falcon Roundabout as it used to be

Dubai as it used to be had many Traffic Roundabouts, probably due to the British influence of John Harris's Dubai Master Plan. Many of these roundabout developed their own identity and became part of everyday language, particularly when giving road directions. Mention the Clock Tower, Flame, Fish, Falcon, Trade Centre or Defence Roundabouts and everyone knew instantly where they were. But Traffic Roundabouts require Road Users' cooperation as well as their understanding and compliance with "Unwritten Rules". These requirements were more easily met when Dubai had low traffic volumes.

As Dubai grew and traffic volumes increased, these roundabouts became obstacles to traffic flow particularly when Road Users began to use highly individual and unique ways of negotiating roundabouts. Consequently many of Dubai's major Traffic Roundabouts were replaced by Traffic Light controlled road intersections. One such roundabout was the Falcon Roundabout at the junction of Al Mina Road, Bank Street (now Computer Street) and Al Ghubaiba Road.

Falcon Roundabout was built in the mid 1970s and subsequently "beautified" by Dubai Municipality into an attractive garden area with grass and flowers.In the centre of this garden area was placed a large statue of a Falcon. The Falcon had its head turned as if looking over its shoulder. The statue soon became known as the bird with the broken neck! Over time the roundabout became affectionately known as the Budgie Roundabout due to the statue's similarity to a budgerigar.

The Falcon had plenty of feathered friends for company as the roundabout was located next to Dubai's Grain Silos in Port Rashid. The Silos attracted thousands of Dubai's pigeons as a source of easily accesible and almost inexhaustible source of food. Eventually the roundabout was replaced by traffic lights and the Falcon Statue relocated to Mirdiff Park.

www.Dubaiasitusedtobe.com