The construction site for a flyover on Ferozepur Road is unmarked and uncontained, posing a significant accident risk for motorists.
Engineers are currently building a split-flyover over the Muslim Town and Canal intersections with exit ramps for Wahdat Road and Canal Bank Road. Construction work is continuing around the clock as the deadline for completion is less than a couple of months away.
A large section of Ferozepur Road has been closed off for the work, leaving just a single lane for traffic in some places.
When the project started, the construction site was well-secured with tape, reflective material, traffic cones and metal sheets.
But now, the traffic cones and fluorescent tape have disappeared, while the metal sheets are torn in places, leaving razor-sharp edges exposed.
Huge ditches dug for foundations or to lay drainage pipes also lie uncovered.
The site is particularly hazardous at night.
Aman Khan, a Punjab University student, broke his finger when he crashed after hitting a jagged sheeting edge at 10pm on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t see anything,” he said. “I was just glad that there were no cars behind me or I might have been killed.”
Waheed Rasool, a resident of Model Town, had to brake sharply on Ferozepur Road when he realised he was heading into a ditch in front of the Rescue 1122 office.
“I couldn’t see it as there was no reflector tape or traffic cones there,” he said. “Two cars that had been following me crashed into me.”
A Rescue 1122 official said there were no figures available for the number of accidents at the site, but he remembered at least three.
“A Land Cruiser fell into a ditch at the site some time back,” he said. “The metal sheets were up but they were right at the edge of the ditch, so they couldn’t stop the car from falling in.”
Project director Sabir Khan Saddozai told The Express Tribune that the budget for safety had been exhausted.
He said that they routinely install safety tape to secure the site but it gets quickly stolen. The traffic cones had all been damaged, he said.
“We will set up cones and tape again,” he said.
“We will also remove the construction material from the road in the coming week which will reduce the danger.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2012.
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Maybe the drivers need to slow down and pay attention. I think that the people driving are as much to blame as the signage because I often see drivers ignore basic driving etiquette.