We are actually obsessed with Dubai’s new waterway: here it is from many angles…

The 3.2 kilometre canal that links Ras Al Khor and Business Bay with the Arabian Gulf is now an actual waterway – and while it’s not completely full, it will be any week now.

The brand new canal turned areas of Dubai like Satwa, Downtown, Zabeel, Oud Metha, Karama and Bur Dubai into one huge island (as they are now completely waterlocked).

Here are some photos to show you what it looks like today (and what it will look like in the future)…

Yes, that is Sheikh Zayed Road…

This is what the Sheikh Zayed Road-adjacent part will look like when it’s all complete. Pretty…

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Here’s a video of the canal being filled with sea water. This week’s water-flow is just the start of the testing process, the canal is going to get even fuller, and will be fully ‘open’ next month:

مبروك ل#دبي ولنا اكتمال هذا العمل العظيم، #قناة_دبي_المائية… اهنيء القائمين على هذا العمل، #دائرة_الطرق_و_المواصلات وكل من أعانهم عليه. التهنئة الاولى طبعاً لسمو الاخ #الشيخ_محمد_بن_راشد #آل_مكتوم على هذه الرؤيا العظيمة لدبي. الله يحفظ #الامارات جمعاء. #الحبتور #Congratulations to us all and to #Dubai on the completion of this great #landmark, the Dubai Water Canal… I congratulate the Roads & Transports Authority @RTA and everyone who supported them. First and foremost, the congratulation should be addressed to HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on his great vision. May God bless the #UAE. #RoadAndTransportAuthority #SheikhMohammedBinRashid #DubaiWaterCanal #??

A video posted by Khalaf Al Habtoor (@khalafalhabtoor1) on

Here’s what it looks like from Business Bay…

The almost completed #DubaiCanal

A video posted by balazs gardi (@balazsgardi) on

This beautiful photo shows the beginnings of a promenade around the Canal:

Ooh, and did you know there will be houses along the Canal? How very Venetian. These are now our dream home material:

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This aerial shot shows you the newly-filled canal, the brand new Westin Hotel and the beloved (and old for Dubai) Safa Park – which will be reopening in part:

Dubai’s new canal – filled with water for the first time today ? (while digging continues…)

A photo posted by Olly Wainwright (@ollywainwright) on

This beautiful black and white photo shows a new bridge being built to cross the Jumeirah end of the canal:

#DubaiCanal #agameoftones

A photo posted by Alrais (@aalrais) on

There will be plenty of pedestrian overbridges along the waterway:

Dubai Canal - how it will look

Oh, and as part of the project they’re completely extending Jumeirah’s beach. Here’s a glimpse…

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dubai canal dubai canal dubai-canal-featured

When the entire project is finished we’ll get a new Jumeirah Beach Park, a mall with a park on top of it, a 7km running track and apartments that look over Safa Park.

By next month all of the major roads and pedestrian bridges will be open along the Canal (however it will then take a while for the residences, restaurants and hotels etc to be built and opened).

In fact, both of the bridges over Sheikh Zayed Road are complete and open, both the the Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road bridges are finished, and the pedestrian bridges over the canal near Safa Park look to be almost finished.

Read more about it here…