ISLAMABAD: For the first time in 10 years, the Khayaban-i-Suharwardi was reopened for the public on Thursday.

Last month, the Supreme Court (SC) had given the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) four weeks to clear a blocked portion of the road in front of its headquarters.

After getting the go-ahead from the intelligence agency, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) opened a side of the road for motorists.

A portion of the road was blocked by ISI due to security issues after the Marriot bombing in 2008. Since then, motorists have been using an alternate route, via Kashmir Highway, to get to Aabpara and other destinations.

“The road has been reopened for the public today,” said CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali.

Khayaban-i-Suharwardi is one of the oldest roads in the capital city and according to CDA officials, was built in the 1960s.

Most VVIP movements were through this road before the construction of the Jinnah Avenue and the expansion of Kashmir Highway. Public service vans running between Rawalpindi and Islamabad also used this road.

CDA sources said only one lane of the road will be opened and that the other will remain closed due to security reasons. However, the CDA will construct an additional lane.

“We will start the construction of an additional lane in the coming days and the design has been finalised. There is sufficient space for another lane,” a CDA engineer said.

However, he said, the road will remain closed during construction work, which could take several weeks to complete. The engineer added that the civic agency will have to move the underground drainage system in order to construct an additional lane.

Another CDA official said the surface of the road has been damaged due to it being closed for a decade and that it needs proper rehabilitation and carpeting.

On Thursday, CDA officials were busy doing necessary cleanliness and repair work on the road while the civic agency’s members also visited the road to see the progress being made by the staff.

CDA officials have been using the blocked portion of the road to park vehicles on and sources said that now that the road has been opened, the civic agency will face a shortage of parking space.

CDA officials said a temporary lot will be developed as a parking space on the green belt along the road.

After the closing of Khayaban-i-Suharwardi, the CDA blocked street 44, which was the main link road connecting this thoroughfare with the G-7 service road.

“We will have to reopen this road as well,” a CDA official said when asked about the street.

In March this year, the road outside the offices of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) near Peshawar Mor was also reopened on SC orders. The apex court had directed the FIA to remove the concrete barriers which had been placed outside the building on the service road of the Kashmir Highway.

CDA officials told Dawn that after the opening of Khayaban-i-Suharwardi, there is a need for starting the much delayed Grade Separation Facility Project on 7th Avenue, where traffic will now face further congestion on the intersection near Aabpara.

The project was discussed in a CDA Departmental Working Party (DWP) meeting recently but was deferred as members raised objections to the design of the project.

The proposed interchange will be constructed on 7th Avenue near Aabpara, where it connects with Khayaban-i-Suharwardi and Kashmir Highway to overcome long queues waiting for the prolonged traffic signal on the intersection.

This was first proposed in 2008 but so far, it has not been approved by the CDA DWP. According to an initial estimate, the project will be modelled on the Zero Point Interchange. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs1.4 billion. Engineering wing officials said the project will be presented again in the next DWP meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018