RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has started a survey of city roads to select one of them where a dedicated lane will be allocated for motorcycles and cycles.
Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema told Dawn that Punjab government had directed to start a pilot project to dedicate a lane for motorcycles and cycles on a main road so the same would be launched in other roads to reduce traffic.
He said he had asked RDA to start the survey of roads. He said in the first phase, the lane would be allocated for motorcycles on a road where there is no shop.
“We selected Old Airport Road for the project while RDA would inform us about other roads which we would select after the survey.” He said no vehicles other than motorcycles and cycles would be allowed to use the dedicated lane. Bikers would also be not allowed to use other lanes on the road.
He said Lahore Development Authority had started the project on Feroze Road and RDA would adopt that pattern. He said RDA would complete the task within a week and after this work would be started for the allocation of separate lanes for bikers.
He said through this initiative road accidents would be reduced and people would travel safely on bikes.
On the other hand, a senior official of RDA told Dawn that the civic agency wanted to start work on Murree Road but it was not possible as there were many slip roads and hospitals connected with the main artery of the city and a dedicated bike lane required a straight road.
He said many roads in the city did not complete the criteria for the bike lanes as they were not wide enough such as Liaquat Road, Iqbal Road, Jinnah Road, Rashid Minhas Road, Murree Road, 6th Road, Saidpur Road and Rawal Road.
He said the survey had been started and in this regard a report would be finalised by next week. He said in the initial plan, the only option was Old Airport Road. He said RDA would consult traffic police to get their opinion.
He said the government wanted to follow the China model in this regard as the chief minister had visited China last month where she saw two separate lanes for bikes. He said the provincial government had also directed for construction of a wall or installation of grills to separate the bike lanes.
Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2025
