Citizens still avoid using overhead bridges

ISLAMABAD: Most citizens living across the Islamabad Expressway still do not use overhead bridges, causing inconvenience to motorists.

These overhead bridges were built to reduce road accidents but the pedestrians are still using the road to get across to the other side and not bridges. An Islamabad Traffic Police official said the police are doing their best to educate motorists and pedestrians, and different sign boards have been put up to guide them. “I agree that most pedestrians prefer to take the shortcut, but several fatal and non-fatal road accidents have occurred on the Islamabad Expressway because they avoid using these overhead bridges,” he said.

The official said the police will continue efforts to educate road users. He requested citizens to use the overhead bridges as they had been constructed for their safety. The Expressway is one of the busiest roads in the capital city.

Most of the traffic coming from Lahore uses it to enter Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Muhammad Afzal, a car owner, said the government has spent millions of rupees to facilitate people living across the Expressway and ensure their safety, but most pedestrians are not using this facility.

Muhammad Shafi, a driver of Route 21, said people mostly do not use the bridge to cross the road and disturb the flow of traffic. “I always use overhead bridges as these have been installed to facilitate the public,” Irshad Hussain, a government employee. The Capital Development Authority (CDA), a couple of months ago, had said it was considering constructing a six foot wall along the Expressway to discourage people from crossing the road. However, no concrete steps have been taken to address this issue as yet