ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has managed to save over Rs7.5 billion by constructing three protective U-turns on Srinagar Highway and making it signal free.
Traffic flow is expected to improve by 70pc and it has been decided to hold a study to know how much time and fuel will be saved in a journey from Zero Point to the end of the road near Tarnol in different time intervals.
The project has been completed on the suggestion of Islamabad Traffic Police and by the efforts of the engineering wing of the civic agency.
Srinagar Highway starts from Murree Road (Kashmir Chowk) and ends near Tarnol. It has become one of the busiest roads of the federal capital as it is used for travelling to and from the airport to urban areas of the city. Moreover, the road also leads to a number of housing societies in Zone-II of the federal capital and Rawalpindi. It is also used by the people who intend to travel on M-1 or M-2, to go towards Peshawar or Lahore and while returning from there.
According to an official statement, CDA has been taking steps and introducing different traffic management systems to control traffic flow in the city.
As per the plan of the traffic police, three U-turns have been prepared.
The first one is between G-12 and National University of Sciences and Technology (Nust), the second u-turn has been made at Faqir Aipee Road and the third has been built in G-10 near a bridge.
“Protection of vehicle riders has been ensured by placing signboards, blinkers, curb stones, etc, so that people would know about the U-turn from a distance. If interchanges would have been constructed at all three spots, it would have required over Rs7.5 billion and a time of around three years,” the statement added.
CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed, while talking toDawn,said the project had been completed as per the survey conducted by Islamabad Traffic Police and around Rs20 million were spent on it.
“We are expecting the traffic flow to improve by 70pc. Moreover, construction of the Peshawar Mor Interchange was started in May 2014 and completed in 2016 and over Rs5 billion was spent on it.
“We did not want to waste money and time. So, it was decided that the proposal of inspector general of police and senior superintendent of traffic police will be implemented,” he said.
“They are protective U-turns in which it has been ensured that chances of accidents would be minimised and people will not have to wait in queues as earlier there were three traffic signals on the road and people had to wait for several minutes at each signal. Though the proposal came from traffic police but the CDA’s engineering wing has implemented it,” he said.
Mr Ahmed, who is also the chief commissioner, said earlier it used to take 40 to 50 minutes to travel from Zero Point to the end of the road.
“I have directed SSP Traffic to personally check the road and see how much time it takes,” he said, adding that a study will be conducted to ascertain how much time and fuel people will be able to save during different times of the day.
Replying to another question, the authority’s chairman said the speed limit might be reduced on the road to ensure safety of people.
It is worth mentioning that currently, the maximum speed limit on Srinagar Highway is 90 kilometres per hour.
Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022
