How the E11 motorway drove Sheikh Zayed's vision for the UAE

The E11 is far more than a motorway running along the UAE’s coast – it’s a road that helped stitch a nation together.

Built in stages in the years before and after the UAE’s unification in 1971, and later called the E11, the route not only linked the emirates but also helped shape a shared identity.

This story is at the heart of a talk taking place on Saturday at Dubai’s Etihad Museum. “Offroad Diplomacy: Sheikh Zayed’s domestic tours across six emirates, 1966 to 1976 and the establishment of E11 as the nation’s lifeline” explores how UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, travelled the emirates during a time of immense change, while also laying the foundation for a motorway network that helped bolster national identity.

It is a story that unfolds at a pivotal moment. Sheikh Zayed in 1966 had just become Ruler of Abu Dhabi; the British announced in 1968 their withdrawal from the Arabian Gulf; and plans for the UAE’s unification were being laid against a backdrop of rising Arab nationalism.

“The focus of the talk is about how there was unity before the union,” Annissa Maulina Gultom, the researcher giving the talk, told The National. “This is … what I found. There is a spirit of unity.”

Al Ittihad Road is part of the E11. Photo: Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority

Ms Gultom, also director of the National Museum of Ras Al Khaimah, became interested in the topic when she learnt the first segment of what would become the E11 was opened in 1966 linking Dubai and Sharjah. It became known as Al Ittihad road (the Union road).

Digging through archives in the UAE and abroad, she studied old maps, interviewed experts and spoke to former residents who had worked on early road-building projects including this first Dubai to Sharjah route. It was financed by the Trucial States Council Development Office and designed by UK firm William Halcrow and Partners.

The road started close to the Flame Tower in Dubai, before heading north, passing the RAF base and ending on the outskirts of Sharjah. Before such asphalt roads, motorists had to navigate tracks over sand and sabkha.

Striking archive images show Sheikh Zayed and oth