ISLAMABAD: The federal minister for interior, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, has directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to streamline the traffic at the Tarnol railway crossing.

The minister was given a presentation on the traffic problems in the area, and their solutions, especially for the Tarnol railway crossing, here on Tuesday, by the chairman of NHA, Shahid Ashraf Tarar.

The minister said that the solution to the traffic problem, at this important intersection, needs to be found.

The chairman NHA said that, in the short term, two U-turns would be made on both sides of the Tarnol railway crossing on N-5, while extra lanes would also be constructed on this road, to ease the flow of the traffic, on the Grant Trunk Road. The number of railway gates would be increased from two to four.

To total cost of the project would be around Rs248 million.

The federal minister directed NHA to start the work immediately and ordered for its completion within the next six months.

He also passed instructions to the district administration to take special measures to manage the traffic flow, during this period, so that general public may not suffer during the developmental process.

The chairman NHA said that the project would facilitate nearly 69,000 vehicles that pass through this crossing every day.

Decisions regarding the construction of an underpass or a flyover on the N-5 will be made after consulting with the public representatives of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, keeping in view the other technical details, within the coming months.