Smooth drive: Signal-free corridor likely to be completed by 31st

Contractor says the last asphalt layer being laid on Jail Road

LAHORE: The signal-free corridor between Qurtaba Chowk on Jail Road and Liberty Roundabout on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard is likely to be completed by December 31.

The Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) and Habib Construction Services (HCS), the contractor, say they had been waiting for winter holidays to close the road for final touches.

HCS CEO Shahid Saleem said taking advantage of holidays the company had started laying the final layer of asphalt on Jail Road.

The final layer has already been laid on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard.

Saleem said a flyover at Fowara Chowk, which was added to the project after construction had started, was yet to be completed.

He said the underpasses at Shadman Chowk and Fowara Chowk had been completed. These were opened for traffic but Fowara Chowk underpass was later closed in view of work on the flyover.

Saleem said work on the flyover was in an “advanced stage” and that it would be completed by mid-January. Its sections touching Jail Road and Main Boulevard have been built. Work is now underway on the curved portion that connects Main Boulevard to cantonment via Sherpao Bridge.

The cost of project, initially estimated at Rs1.5 billion, has swelled to Rs2 billion with addition of the flyover. The contractor has already missed two deadlines and blamed the delay on a stay order issued by Lahore High Court and the addition of the flyover to the original plan.

The 7.6-kilometre corridor includes underpasses at Shadman Chowk and Fowara No 1 Chowk T-Junction near Siddique Trade Centre. Seven traffic signals on Jail Road and Main Boulevard will be removed. The project includes re-modelling of Main Boulevard and reconstruction of Jail Road from Sherpao Bridge to Qurtaba Chowk.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2015.