I was tying to drive around another city in a different emirate a acouoke of days ago, and I was struck by the lack of joined-up thinking in its road-building. So 500 metres of a four-lane highway was being opened to rush the traffic from one narrow, rutted third-world thoroughfare to another. The queue of cars inching through piles of sand and desultory workmen was actually passing a brand spanking new traffic relieving flyover that has been ready for six months but can’t be used because one subcontractor apparently has money issues with another.

Getting back to Abu Dhabi felt like a breath of fresh air. Yes, even driving through the nightmare on Salam Street at rush hour. Why? Because the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City has taken a lot of trouble to tell us what’s going on, why, and when it will all be over.

Indeed the Municipality has just reported the results of a survey it conducted last September to get the public’s views of the ongoing construction work. The overall conclusion? The Municipality is largely getting things right. Most of the 1,000 or so people polled were fully aware of the development and optimistic about the benefits of the Al Salam Street Projects once the whole thing is completed.

Yes, they complained about ongoing parking problems, pollution, congestion and the impact on local job businesses. But the survey also showed that the public generally appreciates the Municipality’s efforts to minimize inconvenience and keep open the lines of communication. Billboards, radio, press releases, even SMS arebeing used to keep us informed. Could be there’s a lesson here for other cities.