September 26, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 13, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 25: Admitting major flaws in the newly- constructed 7th Avenue, the city managers have decided to build overhead pedestrian bridges on the road so that people can cross the fast-moving track safely.

The make-shift pedestrian bridges will be built near sectors G-6 and F-6 to facilitate the people in these densely-populated sectors, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

The 7th Avenue is considered one of CDA’s “masterpieces,” being the first road without any traffic signal.

It is pertinent to mention here that none of the responsible bodies —the Capital Development Authority (CDA), construction firms (Gammon and Matracon), or the consultant (Engineering Associates)— were ready to take the responsibility of the flaws in the mega road project, which cost over Rs900 million, rather they were deflecting responsibility of these costly mistakes to one other.

Having spent Rs900 million on building the 7th Avenue, the CDA has now belatedly realised that constructing an overhead bridge was imperative for providing a safe passage to pedestrians for crossing the road.

Usually one does not see such pedestrian bridges on other highways in Islamabad, or even in Rawalpindi, but the geographical realities of the 7th Avenue are quite unique, as compared to other highways, because it touches many residential areas on its right-of-way, therefore, it requires pedestrian bridges to cater to the needs of pedestrians.

The sources said the CDA has also planed to widen all entry points leading to the 7th Avenue, in addition to building the pedestrian bridges.

The CDA was trying to streamline traffic flow in the capital by making new roads, as it had pledged over Rs1.86 billion for road projects in the current year’s budget.

The authority has recently approved a traffic directorate to deal with traffic-related issues, including installation of computerised traffic signals, designs of new roads and identification of locations for underpasses and roads.

About 30 new road projects were expected to be executed this year, including the 11th Avenue, Zero Point interchange, the Peshawar Mor Flyover, an underpass at the Jinnah Avenue at the F- 8 intersection, widening of the Garden Avenue and construction of an approach road from Daman-i-Koh to Saidpur.

It was also considering constructing pavements along some portions of the road to make it safe for pedestrians.