RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will make some roads one-way to improve traffic in the city area.

A senior RDA official told Dawn that the survey of the city’s roads would be launched, and after checking vehicles’ movement, a new strategy would be devised to declare it one-way traffic.

He said in the past, the RDA made U-turns on Murree Road to avoid traffic rush and after this experiment proved successful, the civic body chalked out a plan for new U-turns on the main road.

He said traffic engineering wing would recommend the U-turns from Liaquat Bagh to Naz Cinema, as mostly rush was witnessed in this section of the road. He said the plan would be submitted to the governing body for final approval.

He said the civic body was considering making main roads in Raja Bazaar one-way, adding that there was a proposal to make some roads accessible to pedestrians only, especially around Moti Bazaar.

The official said the district administration had also directed the civic body to make a plan to deal with this issue.

When contacted, RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi said the authority wanted to improve traffic engineering on main roads and he had asked the civic body to devise a plan which would be presented before the governing body.

He said pedestrian roads in Raja Bazaar was an option and in this regard, traders and residents would be taken on board.

He said the visitors would be facilitated so they visit the main bazaars without any hurdle.

“Pakistan Air Force (PAF) did not give a no-objection certificate (NoC) to install pedestrian bridges on Airport Road due to security concerns, however the RDA made plans to construct pedestrian underpasses on Airport Road in front of Gulzar-i-Quaid and Shah Khalid Colony,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said the new plan would be presented before the provincial government and after approval, work would be launched, adding that there was a need to improve traffic in the city areas.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2019