THIS refers to the expansion and upgradation of Islamabad Expressway. I would like to ask commuters who daily use the Islamabad expressway: does it really look like one?

This heavily-congested road gets choked with trucks and lorries and does not even deserve to be called a highway.

The government recently announced this much-awaited extension which will actually make it look like an expressway. Work has started on its first phase i.e., between Zero Point and Faizabad interchanges.

But most of the crowded section of the road has been put in the last phase of the project which is between Karaal Chowk and T-Chowk, DHA, Bahria town, PWD and other newly-developed housing societies have been built along this two-lane section.

Traffic on this last segment of the expressway moves at a snail’s pace during peak hours but especially when a large vehicle breaks down. Emergency vehicles too get stuck in this gridlock and the panic on the faces of people being taking to hospital wrenches one’s heart.

I request the authorities concerned to start working on phase three in parallel with phase one, as phase three is the narrowest part and urgently needs expansion.

Dawood Khalid

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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