Signal-free Sharea Faisal still full of obstacles

The key highway is marred with challenges such a negligent traffic management and jaywalkers

KARACHI:

Perhaps the port city’s most important and most travelled road, Sharea Faisal, was declared a signal-free corridor a while back but regular commuters on the popular highway do not feel like there is anything signal-free about it. A mixture of negligent traffic management and lack of appropriately placed pedestrian bridges means that those expecting to zoom off on the 18-kilometre long highway often get stuck in choked traffic.

Ahmed Khan, a long-term resident of the city, who along with 250,000 others uses the Sharea Faisal on a daily basis, pointed out that despite the highway being signal-free, cars always seem to get stuck. “Some of the flyovers are poorly designed as they transition from four-lane roads to three-lane roads, resulting in choked traffic. Similarly, no one seems to use the pedestrian bridges; therefore, the constant threat of jaywalking results in vehicles moving incredibly slow,” observed Khan. An on-site survey carried out by the Express Tribune confirms Khan’s observations.

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There are around 13 pedestrian bridges on the historic road, from Hotel Regent Plaza to Star Gate, but people rarely use them because they are constructed at odd points. For instance, there is heavy foot traffic from Lucky Star in Saddar to Jinnah Hospital or National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) but the nearest pedestrian bridge is at the front of the Army Recruitment Center; hence, people end up walking on the flyover which is near to Lucky Star.

Similarly, there is a pedestrian bridge in front of Baloch Colony, however, it is scarcely used due to a broken iron grill under the Sharea Faisal flyover. This breach has led people to create their own passage to cross the busy highway on foot. Consequently, the continuous foot traffic obstructs the flow of vehicles passing on both sides of Shahrah-eFaisal in this area. As per Muhammad Ibrahim, a senior journalist and historian from Lyari, ever since the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was given charge of the road back in 1980, it has run into multiple administrative issues.

“Even historically Shahrah-e-Faisal has always been important. During the British Raj, there used to be a royal air base on it and was travelled upon quite frequently. Even though its importance has not decreased, the traffic situation on it has definitely deteriorated,” opined Ibrahim. Given the plight of the daily user’s of the Sharea Faisal, the Express Tribune asked the Spokesperson for Karachi’s Mayor, Sikander Baloch, about the issues affecting the highway.

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“The claims of poor planning are baseless. The pedestrian bridges are placed accurately and serve thousands,” said Baloch, further adding that as far as traffic mismanagement was concerned it fell under the domain of the traffic police and that the KMC could do nothing about it.

In light of Baloch’s assertions, the Express Tribune asked Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Traffic Police, Karachi, Iqbal Dara, about the congestion on the highway. “There are definitely traffic management problems on Shahrah-e-Faisal. We are trying to control the traffic by imposing heavy fines,” informed Dara while talking to The Express Tribune.