ISLAMABAD: Known as one of the busiest roads in the twin cities, I.J. Principal Road has been in a bad state for some time and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) seems unmoved to start rehabilitation work on the thoroughfare.

The road which starts from Faizabad and ends at the linking point between Peshawar and G.T. Road is dangerous to drive on at some points due to rutting on its surface.

The CDA had constructed the road to divide the I and J sectors. The J sectors fall on the Rawalpindi side and were not developed as Rawalpindi did not adopt CDA’s master plan.

The road is considered the busiest in the twin cities and also caters to inter-provincial heavy traffic.

“The condition of the road is very bad and needs immediate rehabilitation. The road is also not wide enough, resulting to routine traffic jams,” said Touseef Ahmed, a resident of Pindora, adding that the congestion is particularly bad at Pindora stop, Katarian and Khayaban stop to Pirwadhai Sabzi Mandi stop.

A cab driver Rishad Ali said the road has been damaged due to heavy traffic and that its dilapidated condition often causes accidents.

A principal road is supposed to consist of four lanes but this road only has two on each side.

CDA officials said two more lanes should be added to the road on each side, preferably of concrete and on the pattern of the Islamabad Highway.

They said designated concrete lanes for heavy traffic are the only solution as a normal carpeted road will receive heat from the tyres of loaded trucks in the surface, ending in rutting on the surface.

“When this road was constructed in 2005, the management should have considered the movement of heavy traffic and constructed concrete lanes,” an engineer said, adding that successive managements also did not construct designated lanes for heavy traffic.

CDA officials said the road was designed to bear eight tons of traffic but the load increased up to 25 tons later, which has caused the damage.

The road caters to loaded trucks going to and from the Sabzi Mandi nearby and intercity traffic from Lahore and other cities which access the general bus stand locates in Pirwadhai and other legal and illegal bus stands along the road.

Officials said the road caters to thousands of loaded trucks and other heavy traffic every week from Pirwadhai, 9th Avenue, Dhoke Hasu, Katarian, Khyaban-i-Sir Syed, Pindora and Faizabad.

A few years ago, the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) conducted repair work on the road worth Rs140 million.

However, this was not enough to deal with such huge traffic and the road started developing pits within six months of the completion of the project.

“Conducting repair work in patches is a waste of time and money. The road needs complete rehabilitation,” a CDA engineer said.

He added that several of CDA’s residential sectors including I-8, I-9, I-10, I-11 and the yet to develop I-12 fall on this road while residents of Rawalpindi on the other side of the road- including those of Pindora, Khayaban, Bangash Colony, Fauji Colony and those living on both sides of Saidpur Road- use I.J. Principal Road.

“Our higher-ups should use this road and see the bad condition it is in,” he said.

CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali said the civic agency has been making efforts to start repair work on the road.

“We have short term and long term plans. After this rainy season, we will be starting necessary repair work including levelling etc. For the long term, we have prepared a PC-I for the overall rehabilitation of the road,” he said. Mr Ali said the PC-II is also under process.

“We are aware of the condition of the road. Let me assure you that we will start the repair work soon,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2019